SPEAK UP LIBRARIAN

Pumpkin Bread

2009-11-24T00:05:00.001-06:00

This is one of my favorite recipes my mother taught me. It's moist and delicious.

Pumpkin Bread
3 cups flour
1 1/4 cups oil
2 cups pumpkin (I use Libby's in the can)
1 tsp baking soda
2 cups sugar
1 tsp salt
3 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg or ginger
4 eggs
Mix together all ingredients and bake for 1 hour at 350. Makes 2 loaves.

This year, I'm hosting a Thanksgiving gathering for 10 at my house. I'm looking forward to it very much so that's where I'll be putting my effort this week, cleaning and cooking. See you around the blogosphere after the holiday.

It's Down to the Final 3 Teams Or Is It? Amazing Race Episode 10

2009-11-22T21:12:00.002-06:00

I was all excited to find out tonight which of the teams would make it to the final 3. But it didn't work out that way as it turned out to be a nonelimination leg. Nice for Brian and Ericka who came in fourth but frustrating for me as a viewer.

Megan and Cheyne came in first winning a trip to Hawaii. The brothers came in 2nd and the Globetrotters came in 3rd. There was tension between the dating couple and the Globetrotters when Megan made an offer for the teams to work together and Cheyne ditched them soon afterwards. Hey, this late in the game, it's every team for themselves. However, Sam and Dan risked attracting some bad karma by bribing Erika and Brian's taxi's driver to take them instead of waiting for the married couple to finish their detour task.

Overall the show wasn't too exciting tonight. The best part was watching the brothers try to navigate a kayak through a whitewater course, arguing all the way, and inevitably tipping over into the water. That was laugh out loud entertaining.

Do you think married couple Brian and Ericka have any chance of catching up to the other teams? Will Sam and Dan pay for their dirty play?

Christmas Gift Ideas for the Hard of Hearing

2009-11-21T10:31:00.005-06:00

Have you started your Christmas shopping yet? I have. I wanted to remind everyone that my Speak Up Librarian Shop has lots of fun items that would make a great Christmas gift for yourself, a family member, or a friend. I now have coffee mugs, water bottles, tote bags, and BBQ aprons in addition to the t-shirts and sweatshirts. I have reduced the price on all the basic style t-shirts featured in the flyer below. White t-shirts now start as low as $17.99 for styles printed on the front only and $20.99 for styles printed on the front and back. Coffee mugs in these same designs are $12.99.

Photo Fun for Friday: Fall Yard Cleanup

2009-11-20T00:05:00.001-06:00

Look what's been hiding around our yard!

Time to get out the rake.

My town offers leaf pickup service twice each fall
for residents who rake their leaves to the curb.

In the backyard, we cover the flowerbeds with leaves.

Leafless Lila Tree - It reminds me
of Charlie Brown's Christmas tree.

Faded Glory

Another surprise find - a still vibrant violet.

Last look at lovely autumn.

Rusty closes his eyes against the cold wind.
Can you tell he's lost weight?

I'll be watching the sky now for signs
of the first snow of the season.

I Heart Blogging

2009-11-19T00:05:00.001-06:00

This month I get to teach two library workshops on blogging. It's always fun for me to talk about this topic with those who are new to the blogging concept. I share the following words from Antonella Pavese with my audience because they resonate with me on why blogging is wonderful. [Note: the bolding is mine and doesn't appear on her website that way.]

Typically, people get into blogging by reading blogs. Most blog readers are not bloggers, they just enjoy visiting and reading/listening/viewing content that others create. And this is great: blogs need readers. Some people, after lurking for while, start contributing to the discussion by writing comments to other people’s posts. This is even better: blogging requires participation. Some blogs becomes like coffee shops: nice places to visit and hang out, where one can listen to stories and chat with friend.

But best of all is having your own blog, because you have the chance to create something that is yours, on which you have complete creative control, and at the same time is public. This is the true power and beauty of blogging: a blog is something you create and take care of, like a garden, and other people from all over the world can visit and enjoy. Antonella Pavese

I love her image of a blog as a garden, don't you?

My Encounters With the Amish

2009-11-18T00:05:00.000-06:00

Lately I've been reading Christian fiction author Beverly Lewis' series Abram's Daughters about a Lancaster County, Pennsylvania Amish family. These entertaining stories are filled with faith and family and storylines dramatic enough to rival a soap opera. I highly recommend them to you.

By chance, I happened across a charming children's book in my library last week about two Amish girls and a peacock called Just Plain Fancy by Patricia Polacco. I highly recommend it to you as well. You can learn more about this book and related learning activities about the Amish at the author's website.

Where I grew up in the Midwest, encounters with the Amish were not unusual. I remember during my school days being outside at recess time and seeing horse and buggy carriages pass by with their cautionary orange triangle symbols attached at the back. Family names of Troyer, Yoder, Miller, Schlabaugh, etc were common in the area. Reading these books brought back these memories to me. They also reminded me of two humorous encounters I have had with the Amish.

One time when I was a young girl my family went to an Amish restaurant. I was hungry and ordered a hamburger. When it was served to me, I reached out for the condiment bottle on the table and poured what I thought was ketchup onto my burger. Then I noticed the Amish waitress's surprised look. "That's apple butter, miss." Oops. I hurriedly scraped it off as my sister laughed at me.

Several years later when I was in college and working as a substitute teller during the summers, I was assigned for a day to a bank branch frequented by the Amish. Since, the bank had trained me to ask for identification every time I cashed a check for someone I didn't know personally, when an Amish man handed me a check to cash, I automatically asked him for his driver's license. The man just stared back at me wordlessly until the light dawned on me. You don't need a driver's license for a horse and buggy! Oops - major faux pas. Fortunately the teller next to me rescued me and approved the check for cashing.

Have you had any encounters with the Amish? My British readers may be interested to know that the Amish refer to anyone outside of their community as the "English".

Sprint WebCapTel: Have You Tried It Yet?

2009-11-17T00:05:00.003-06:00

I learned about Sprint's free WebCapTel service at a recent hearing loss support group meeting. As I tend to avoid telephone calls as much as possible, I was intrigued by the idea of being able to hear a caller's voice and access a captioned version of what the caller said on my PC.

I had never tried a relay service before. Instead I've relied upon turning my telephone volume all the way up which I'm sure is not good for my ears. It's been a long time since I enjoyed a nice relaxing chat on the phone.

The Sprint representatives at the meeting suggested trying out the service by calling someone "safe". So I started by calling my husband. I was amused when at first the captioner came back with [speaker unclear]. Yes, that's been my experience too! I felt validated. After that first "speech bump", the rest of our brief conversation went fine. There seemed to be a three second delay between the finish of what he said and the start of the captioning. Not bad.

Then I tried calling my friend, Linda. She is someone I have missed talking to by phone. Before my hearing loss was identified, we used to have hours long conversations to the delight of the long distance companies. She admitted that she'd avoided calling me knowing how difficult it is for me now. We did pretty well using WebCapTel. Lately we've been instant messaging each other so we were used to having a delay between our replies. We got quite a few chuckles out of the captioning mistakes. The captioner prints what he/she heard and then analyzes it. If he/she comes up with a better answer, it prints those words in brackets like this: ... woman irking at the library [working].

My third call was to my mom. We had trouble getting the timing to work for us. I think if she could have seen the captioning as it appeared on my screen, it might have gone better. When I called my sister next, I made sure to keep her informed of where the captioning was at. To her credit she made a huge effort to speak slowly and clearly and the captioning was very accurate as a result. But it seemed to me as if this was perhaps too much to ask of someone. It felt intrusive and awkward conversing this way.

As a hard of hearing resident of Illinois, I'm eligible to receive a free captioned telephone for my home. It will caption all the outgoing calls I make. It will caption incoming calls that are directed through a relay service. Sprint also offers a $99 telephone model that will caption both incoming and outgoing calls automatically. I think that is the one I would like to eventually purchase. For now, I am going to keep using WebCapTel until my family, friends, and I are more comfortable with captioned phone service.

What are your thoughts on WebCapTel?

Note: This blog post has been edited since it was originally posted. A reader commented that the service works through human captioners not voice recognition software. I have edited the post to reflect that. If I had known it was a human captioning the call, I wouldn't have laughed at the captioning mistakes. My apologies.

I've just been corrected once again by a reader. The system uses both a human captioner and voice recognition software. See the comments section for more details.

Don't Sweat the Small Stuff: Amazing Race Episode Nine

2009-11-16T08:20:00.004-06:00

At the beginning of the episode, a ferry's departure time brought all the teams back together, even Gary and Matt who had fallen way behind last week. Their Speed Bump task turned out to be possibly the easiest one ever - sitting in a sauna for five minutes! This sauna was located on an Estonian Saunabus - an interesting concept. In the US we have bookmobiles, why not mobile saunas? On second thought...Anyways, Gary and Matt enjoyed the task immensely. Lucky Matt was seated beside a gorgeous young blonde during their sauna session with a group of locals. His dad Gary socialized by talking about his Finnish heritage and sauna experiences in Minnesota.

Meanwhile the other teams were solving a mystery at the headquarters of the Blackheads society. They had to locate a candleabra with a numbered tag which gave them a room number where they would receive a scroll. The trick was the scroll turned out to be blank. Teams quickly figured out they needed to hold the scroll up to their candle to reveal their next destination. Well all the teams except the Globetrotters. Flight Time thought the trick was to rub a crayon on the scroll to reveal the message. Pretty soon he figured out he needed to use heat instead. With their trouble on this task and their difficulty deciphering the briefcase code, I am wondering how they will cope with the final challenge that usually requires puzzle solving ability.

When Gary and Matt finished their sauna speed bump, Matt took the task. He struggled a bit since he didn't know what a candleabra was. During the commercial break my family switched to a different channel and we missed seeing how he figured that one out. Hopefully by recognizing the word candle inside of candleabra.

At the Detour teams had a choice of playing mud volleyball or using a slingshot to hit a target. Megan and Cheyne, the Globetrotters, and the brothers all chose mud volleyball. Brian and Ericka were forced to choose the slingshots when no more volleyball courts were available. Matt and Gary also chose target shooting when they arrived later.

On the way to the Pit Stop there was a scuffle between the brothers Sam and Dan and the Globetrotters. The bad feeling between the teams seems to have escalated. Their encounter reminded me of Jen and Luke's clashes last season.

Final standings
1st place: Cheyne and Megan
2nd place: Sam and Dan
3rd place: Flight Time and Big Easy (Globetrotters)
4th place: Brian and Ericka

Sadly, father/son team Gary and Matt were eliminated. I will miss seeing them as they were one of my favorite teams.

Next week's elimination will lead to the final three teams. Predictions, anyone?

Photo Fun for Friday: Butterfly Garden

2009-11-13T00:05:00.000-06:00

In this photo you can see the blur of this
butterfly's wings in motion. Butterflies

are tricky subjects to photograph.

Watch your step!

I visited this butterfly garden with the specific purpose of obtaining the answer to the question, "Are butterflies deaf?" I have seen websites online that say they are and some that say they aren't, but I haven't gotten a definitive word from my web research. Unfortunately, I was unable to get the answer from the staff at the butterfly exhibit either. I was promised my question would be referred to an expert but I never received any reply to my query even after I sent followup emails. At any rate with your indulgence, I'd like to share my own "butterfly logic".

If butterflies are deaf and butterflies are beautiful, then deaf can be beautiful!

Brighten Someone's Day

2009-11-11T14:24:00.002-06:00

U.S. Troops Surrounded by Holiday Mail During WWII
Originally uploaded by Smithsonian Institution

On Veterans Day it seems appropriate for me to share a way that you can help lift the morale and spirit of someone serving in the American military, even if you don't know anyone personally who's currently enlisted.

Write a short letter of encouragement with phrases like "I support you." "God bless you." "Come home safely." "Thank you."

Address your letter to one of the following:

Any Soldier US ARMY
Any Sailor US NAVY
Any Marine US MARINE CORPS
Any Airman US AIR FORCE

When you take your letter to your local post office, you will be told how much postage to affix to your letter.

Once it reaches its destination, a commanding officer will distribute your letter to someone who hasn't received mail lately or someone who is in special need of a boost.

I hope you'll brighten someone's day soon.

Finding a Flag in a Haystack: Amazing Race Episode 8

2009-11-09T18:52:00.003-06:00

Last night's episode featured a new twist - the Switchback task which turned out to be a repeat of an infamous task from a previous season. One contestant from each team was required to unroll haybales in hopes of finding a small Amazing Race flag hidden inside one. The odds were against them with 7 flags hidden among 180 haybales. An earlier race contestant spent 10 hours unrolling haybales without finding her clue, thus the notoriety of this task.

As luck would have it the Harlem Globetrotters found their flag first which pleased Flight Time to no end as it was his birthday! Meghan found hers next and played a trick on Cheyne. She approached him groaning that she couldn't do it anymore (she'd been at it more than two hours) and then pulled the flag out of her pocket and said, "Let's go!" That was an awesome race moment. The two of them remain my favorite team.

Brian found his next and went over a haybale with excitement. Sam who had been searching the longest and having to endure his brother's yelling from the sidelines found his next leaving only Gary to continue the task. Gary kept on and finally found a flag after unrolling for more than 3 hours. Fortunately it was a non-elimination leg and the father/son team remain in the race.

One of the other funny moments on the show was when Gary and Matt were navigating in Sweden and Gary kept reading off the Swedish street names which turned out to be no help at all. They have a great attitude towards each other and the race and they are definitely my second favorite team. I'm hoping for an equalizer to appear on the next leg so they can stay in the game.

Photo Fun for Friday: Fall Foliage

2009-11-06T00:05:00.000-06:00

I took these photos at the university where I work on October 26. A week and a half later and most leaves have dropped from the tree branches. The last photo put me in mind of the winter to come. Enjoy the fall colors while you can.

If Harry Potter had a hearing aid...

2009-11-04T08:02:00.004-06:00

If Harry Potter had a hearing aid, instead of program settings there'd be spell settings:

Reparo to fix any malfunction.
Nomore Uhdawax to clean it.
Vox Heliuma to make Draco's voice sound like he'd been inhaling helium.
Amplifario to make Hermione's helpful whispers in class louder.

Maybe with a deluxe model, he could even use Translatia Comprehenso to understand foreign languages.

Or perhaps his hearing aid would be just a hearing aid, the way his glasses are simply glasses.

Bells and belles: Amazing Race episode 7

2009-11-03T07:59:00.003-06:00

Bells proved frustrating for belle Erika. She had difficulty counting the number of carillion bells, struggling with the task long after the other teams had completed it. Then she and husband Brian missed a vital part of the next clue which resulted in a long walk in uncomfortable wooden shoes.

Luck ran out for the Poker Girls this episode. While they were handed the answer to the first challenge of the leg by one of the brothers, they couldn't overcome their lack of strength to complete either of the Detour task options.

What do you think? Was it an unfair choice of tasks for an all girl team? I'm inclined to think that the tasks get harder further along the race and weaker teams get weeded out as a result. The girls had experienced many lucky breaks along the way which kept them in the race longer than I would have expected.

Halloween Photo Fun for Friday

2009-10-30T00:05:00.002-05:00

Unlike my usual Friday photo feature, I didn't take any of these pictures. I received them in my email and couldn't resist sharing them with you. Aren't they clever?

Last year I posted photos of dogs dressed in Halloween costumes. For those of you who missed out, you can see them here.

If this has inspired you to create one of these designs for next year, here's a link to the free stencil designs from Better Homes and Gardens. There are 13 dog breed stencils available.

Happy Howloween everybody!

Sara Chapman & the 2009 Photoblog Award

2009-10-28T13:45:00.002-05:00

One of my favorite blogs is Sara's Fave Photos by Sara Chapman of Seattle. I blogged about her previously on my post Photos Worth a Thousand Words. Sara frequently features flower photos and all of her pictures are a visual delight.

Sara has entered her blog in the 2009 Photoblog Award competition. As I'm only permitted to vote once for her [I was hoping I could vote once a day for her] I'm writing about her here, hoping some of you will check out her blog so she can get the votes she deserves.

If you're interested in voting, click here for her entry on the 2009 Photoblog Awards site. In order to vote, you will need to create an account with the site by creating a login and password - it's simple with no cost involved. The site will then send you an activation email with a link to click and you can cast your vote. Voting is open until December 15.

Good luck, Sara. I hope you win!

Some Like It Hot: Amazing Race Episode 6

2009-10-25T20:13:00.002-05:00

Continuing to race in Dubai, all the teams suffered from the heat. Thoughtfully the producers arranged two water related challenges. The first involved rowing an inflatable boat out to a yacht to receive a watch from a sheik. That seems like a straightforward enough task but our racers showed some unusual ways to row a boat including paddling it with their arms instead of using the oars. Tiffany rocked this task using standard rowing technique.

Given the choice of assembling hookas or counting gold, most teams sweltered in the sun building 12 of the intricate smoking devices. Cheyne and Megan stayed ahead of the pack and finished first. When it came to counting gold, the alliance between the brothers and the poker players paid off. The girls had the smarts to do it but the boys had the calculator! Working together led these teams to their excellent finishes of second and third place.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. There was a second water related task on tonight's show. This one involved "Taking a Leap of Faith" which turned out to be sliding down a very steep water slide into a pool with real sharks at the Atlantis Resort in Dubai. (It appeared that the sharks were separated from the swimmers by a glass wall.) Some of the teams enjoyed taking the plunge but not Mika. Her fear of water and heights combined to pscyh her out of going down the slide. That decision cost her and Canaan the race as there was one team still behind them. Team Globe Trotters arrived last on the scene and helped convince Mika not to slide. That may seem mean but I have no sympathy for her as she had wasted a lot of time before they got there dithering over whether to slide or not. Talking her out of the slide was the Globe Trotters only chance to stay in the race and they did it.

I'm rather scared of heights myself but I have managed to enjoy the terror of water slides several times. And for me there wasn't even the possibility of winning a million dollars involved. Do you think I'm being too hard on Mika or do you think she should have expected a challenge like this on the Amazing Race and prepared herself for it?

Fun ASL Video with Captions in English and ASL

2009-10-23T09:21:00.004-05:00

This video is FUN to watch! I really appreciate the time the signer took to add the captions in ASL below the English captions. When I was taking my sign language class and had to sign sentences in front of the class, that's how I wrote them out on my paper. First in English, then as ASL concepts. It reinforces the idea that ASL is not "English in the air".

Thank you to my friend Pam for bringing this video to my attention. I hope you all enjoy it! Have a great weekend, everyone.

Read more about signer Stephen Torrence and how he makes his ASL videos in this interview: part one and part two.

A Very Harry Halloween

2009-10-23T08:24:00.003-05:00

My entry in the library's Pumpkin Carving Contest.

I've been sick with a virus for about two weeks now. Last Friday I went to the doctor and was tested for influenza A/B and strep. Both tests came back negative. The doctor suggested it might be mono and that I needed to get lots of rest and drink plenty of fluids. As needed I could take Tylenol for my sore throat pain.

Fortunately, my downtime hasn't been a complete waste. I've been reading the Harry Potter series. Now that I've entered the world of J.K. Rowling, it's hard to believe I haven't read them before now. My only explanation is that when the books first came out my son was too young for them.

I remember there was also some concern by conservatives about witchcraft being promoted through the novels. Now that I've read them for myself, I can't understand that viewpoint at all. Even though the world is magical, it's far from perfect. The characters all must cope with events beyond their control and must deal with everyday problems like bad weather, unfair teachers, and taunting classmates. I find it particularly endearing that Harry who may be the most powerful wizard of all must wear glasses to correct his nearsightedness. No magical Lasik vision spell for him.

So far, I've read the first four novels. After each one, I've rented the movie on DVD. It's been an enjoyable way to spend my time while resting and really put me in the mood for Halloween next week!

Desert Snow: Amazing Race Episode 5

2009-10-18T21:15:00.003-05:00

This episode seemed pretty low key to me after the shocking upset of last week.

In Dubai, my favorites Meghan and Cheyne took the fast forward challenge to a first place finish. Brian made a point of helping every team he possibly could in the hopes of receiving good karma later on in the race. Tiffany and Maria received a replacement vehicle when they damaged theirs. Lance and Keri had difficulty navigating, came in last, and were eliminated. From what we were shown, there was much less fighting between them on this leg of the race. And I have to admit their exit from the game was unexpectedly classy saying they had other great things to look forward to in their life.

Would you have enjoyed building snowmen in the desert heat? That seemed like a better option than searching the "needle in the haystack" like snow piles for a tiny white snowman. But the two teams who found snowmen actually finished ahead of those who chose to build snowmen. Go figure.

For me the best moment of all was when brothers Sam and Dan tried to book an airline ticket to the Persian Gulf!

Got Flu?

2009-10-12T16:50:00.003-05:00

I'm out sick from work. My son got sick first and now it's my turn. I've got a fever, sore throat, and cough. I really don't know whether or not the swine flu is to blame, but I couldn't resist posting this cute pig photo a friend sent me!

Don't worry, I am drinking lots of fluids and getting plenty of rest as a precautionary measure. And reading my blog does not expose you to any risk of contagion.

Stay well. I'll be better soon.

And the First Shall Be Last: Amazing Race Episode 4

2009-10-11T20:55:00.002-05:00

In last week's preview, we were told that one team misplaced their travel documents. Shortly before tonight's episode, I saw a clip that revealed the team to be one of my sentimental favorites, Zev and Justin. Oh, no. Not them!

All through this leg of the race, I kept waiting for the fatal moment to occur. I was sure we would see them leave behind their passports as happened with Toni and Dallas on a previous season. I was wrong because they arrived in first place at the Pit Stop without incident. Sadly, their triumph was short-lived as they discovered Zev's passport was missing shortly afterwards. Hmm...I wondered is that standard procedure for teams to be required to produce their travel documents to show staff at the end of each leg?

Phil told the guys they had to retrace their steps to try and recover the missing passport before the last team arrived at the Pit Stop. They were unable to do so and were eliminated from the race. Darn! I really would have liked to have seen more of them on my tv.

Dating couple Megan and Cheyne continue to look strong and interact well with each other as a team. Lance and Keri had a much easier time of it on this leg of the race but there was less humor in tonight's episode as a result. They continue to be my least favorite team.

Bye, Zev and Justin. I'm sorry to see you go so soon!

Fall Flowers for Friday: Marvelous Mums & More

2009-10-09T00:05:00.004-05:00

Yellow Mums

White mums with yellow centers

Purple Mums

Reddish-orange Mums

White Mums

Sedum

Geraniums

I'm dedicating this post to my Mom who is affectionately known as "Mum" to my son. That's the name I called her Mother so it's become a family tradition. Someday, I hope my son's child(ren) will call me Mum too.

Love you, Mom!

Why We Make Mistakes

2009-10-08T17:00:00.000-05:00

I recently read this fascinating book by Joe Hallinan. I highly recommend it to everyone who makes mistakes. If that doesn't include you, you can stop reading now.

Uh-huh. I thought so.

Ever since I started blogging about my funny hearing mistakes, I've been intrigued by how my mind works to fill in the missing parts of conversation and tries its best to make sense of the garbled speech I hear.

Here's some examples:

When someone was describing a museum exhibit featuring parts of the body, I thought she said the finger instead of The Thinker. I think my misperception actually fits better with the context.

When a coworker was describing a bird that got out of its cage and flew around an apartment, I thought she said it landed in the cat dish rather than the cactus. It seems as though my mind was thinking about pet mishaps and naturally thought of cat. I have a dog who has large bowls for his food and water. I pictured in my mind the bird landing in a cat's dish of water. Splash! That would be funny. If I were the bird, I'd prefer my version over a prickly cactus landing. Ouch!

Recently I attended a library event where a photographer explained how you can use a point and shoot camera to maximum effect. He said he got on to doing art shows in order to make money. Silly me thought he said archery. In defense of my poor brain, I would like to point out his talk was all about "shooting things". Heh.

When I picked up Mr. Hallinan's book, I was hoping to read some research on hearing mistakes. But the subject wasn't covered. Undeterred, I emailed the author and received the following replies which I have received permission from him to post. The following is excerpted from the emails:

From Me:
I really enjoyed reading your book Why We Make Mistakes. I was hoping you would include research about the mistakes that are most common in my life which are hearing mistakes. Do you have any information on that subject?

From the Author:
You raise a very good issue and one I've given a lot of thought to lately. I had thought about this some while I was writing the book, but decided against focusing on hearing mistakes in part because they are very hard to illustrate -- at least in a print medium. So my short answer is no. But hearing mistakes of the kind you describe are perfectly consistent with the other kinds of mistakes we describe in the book. For instance, I talk about how we all tend to "skim," -- noticing just enough to get by, drawing inferences where we can, etc. And it seems to me very likely that we do the same thing when we listen to someone speak at a lecture or give us directions: we "skim" hear, taking in some but not all of what is said.
From the Author's second email reply:
You can make mention, if you want, of the example we use of F.C. Bartlett and the native American story he has people read and then recount. I suspect something similar happens when we hear things and try to recount what we are told -- we only retain a fraction. In fact, one study found that the average judo fighter can recall only 29.3% of pre-match coaching instructions after the match is over.

This wasn't the kind of response I was hoping to receive. I really wanted some insight into the kind of hearing mistakes I make. The ones he refers to are ones I think people with good hearing make. Or am I in denial about my own level of attention to a speaker?

I received the following comment from Jonathan to my last blog post which seems particularly relevant to this discussion too:

Honestly, I always find it odd that people without hearing loss can mishear what other people said. I've associated this experience with being hard of hearing so much that it just seems bizarre that it's not exclusively an HOH issue. But, then it somewhat parallels to what someone, a hearing person, once said to me: hearing people don't listen, hard of hearing people do.

Do you agree that the examples I gave above of my own mistakes are different from the hearing mistakes the author cites as due to lack of attention. I would argue I was putting a lot of effort into following the conversation based on the context I was able to decipher. Or do these examples prove my brain uses inference to understand speech the same way as someone with regular hearing does?

The Making of ....a Slight Mistake.

2009-10-06T19:45:00.006-05:00

Linda, my very good friend from library school, shared this amusing story with me recently.

She was sitting at the reference desk when a teenager approached her and asked if the library had a book in its collection. She asked him what the title was and thought he responded with "The Making of the Lion King". She hadn't heard of the book before and the thought passed through her mind that it was rather strange that a young man was interested in a Disney children's film...but professional that she is, she went ahead and consulted the library catalog. She didn't find a listing for it.

She asked the young man again and repeated back what she had heard as the title. Apparently he was too polite to correct her. Fortunately for him at that moment her coworker came to take the next shift at the desk. He restated his request to her. Before leaving, Linda told her colleague she had been unable to find "The Making of the Lion King". Suppressing a giggle, her coworker told her the title he was looking for was "The Making of a Latin King." Oops.

Thanks, Linda for reminding me that sometimes even those with excellent hearing make mistakes and allowing me to share your story on my blog.

[For those unfamiliar with the Latin Kings, they are a gang in the United States. Just a bit different than an animated feature film.]