More on deafness

I've been thinking about the issue highlighted by John Naughton re iPods cancelling out awareness of your surroundings. I have a new set of noise cancelling earphones, which work really well. I specifically wanted them to cancel out an element of my surroundings - in particular the jet noise on board the flights I often have to take to Helsinki and back. I've discovered they do a great job of blocking out the horrendous screeching noise familiar to users of the Victoria Line tube in London. When I get to Brixton, I keep them on, and the music going, and it muffles the touts offering tickets to that night's gig at the Academy, it drowns out the drug dealers offering their wares and mutes the slightly deranged bible thumper offering salvation. All of which makes life a bit less tense....though I realise others might like those cultural inputs. But if I keep them in, what else might be blocked? Birdsong? Casual and friendly encounters? Someone once taught me that one should always ask, what can I learn from this meeting? What has this person to tell me? We should be questioning barriers to social learning.

Comments

[pandora charms 2011]

THANKS A LOT