Nancy

I am just curious about a few things I learned today. You know how some rooms' sounds "bounce"?
Well, how well do hearing people hear "normal conversations" from one side of the room to the other side (this is a big room with no "inside offices" but in the open)? Also, how loud can a hearing person hear it from far off?
Sorry if I sounded ignorant, but I have been having this hearing loss most of my life, so I don't think about sounds when I am having a conversation with a coworker or a supervisor. LOL Heck, I don't even turn on the volume of my monitor and computer!! My father and my sister-in-law says they want sound on theirs, but I am used to no sound, so it doesn't bother me too much, unless I do want to hear something with my hearing aid.
Thanks to those who can help me understand this. Sometimes, I don't even realize I am talking too loud until my manager had to tell me to lower it down. LOL

Deafness

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sr171soars

It is hard for those who can hear to appreciate these kind of facts about sounds. It is as natural for any able bodied person to walk...you just don't think about it. When I was wearing my HA, I quite realized the limitations I had in the hearing department compared to the normal hearing folks.

Sounds bouncing in a room or better yet a cave are known as echos. I could hear the echo effect but it really played havoc on my hearing as it is like a cat chasing it's tail when trying to understand the words. It was fun hearing echos if I was just listening. It is very difficult to explain unless you can hear it. The best way to explain it is that the word "bounces" and you hear it more than once and sometimes many times if the situation was right. So, the word "hello" might come out as "hellohellohello" going from loud to softer due to the lost of energy in the sound waves as they bounced around.

It was amazing to me that these people could talk and a normal voice and hear it well across a big room like a conference room. I had to decide whether I would sit near the predominant speaker or find a middle ground and hope to get most of it. It exhausted me lots of times since I was really concentrating on hearing what I could.

The other part you mentioned how well a normal hearing person hears things far off was another thing that is interesting. I could often see and hear a conversation over a distance and I couldn't really make out any of the words from the far person.

Normal hearing is a very remarkable no matter how you look at it. Now, that I have my CI, I hear much better than I did with my HA and I can now hear very well in the the conference room meetings and such and I can even do the far distance communication conversations as well. Alas, I still have trouble with the echos but that is not a typical situation I have to deal with normally.

Reba

It depends on the room (size, materials), background noise (equipment, other people talking, AC running), and the voices (loud or soft, facing the listener, or facing away from the listener). Rooms with acoustic ceiling tiles, lots of carpeting, upholstered furniture, drapes, etc., are quieter than rooms with hard surfaces, such as tiled floors, no drapes, plastic or metal furniture, etc. That is one reason that restrooms are "noisy"; all the surfaces are hard. In a bathroom at home, adding towels, fabric shower curtains, small rugs, etc., makes the room quieter.

In an office or meeting room, it is harder to hear people if they have their backs to the listener. Even if a room doesn't have partitions or cubicles, sometimes the sound is blocked by people's bodies or by furniture. Some rooms carry sound very well, like theaters. A theater can be very large, but if it is built properly, a person sitting in the far back seats should be able to hear someone whisper on stage.

So, there are many factors that influence the spread of sound in a room.

I hope this helps.