You’re sitting on the couch, watching your favorite comedy. Suddenly, someone turns on the dishwasher. The dog starts snoring and muttering in his sleep. Your neighbor revs a backhoe to start digging that trampoline pit he’d been telling you about. Suddenly, the show’s not so funny anymore because now you’re hearing too much all at once and can’t hone in on the punchlines!
These situations might also strike a familiar chord:
- You’re in a work meeting, trying to hear the presentation, but people are whispering right behind you, while the guy next to you is tapping his pencil on the table.
- You’re in the supermarket when your phone rings, but you can’t hear the caller over the music and the other shoppers. Then you notice people are staring at you because you’re practically yelling into the phone right there by the bananas.
- You’re at your grandson’s 2nd birthday party and he just said something adorable that everyone is laughing at, but you missed it because of all the other 2-year-olds running around squealing.
- You’re driving in rush hour traffic listening to the radio and your favorite song comes on just as a dump truck pulls up behind you. Now you have to crank the volume to 11.
