Having all five senses is a miracle. So many of us take all of what we view as the "smallest things" for granted. Not being able to hear is a gift many are given and some are are not. And the hearing impaired community has come such a long way in their ability to living extraordinary lives. And science has come quite the distance in giving the deaf the ability to hear. When one who has been without sound first hears, it's an astonishing moment.
Redditor u/appleraju wanted hear all the wonderful things people who can now hear experience by asking.... People who were born deaf but gained hearing later in life, what objects did you expect to make noise?
Shout!
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I had a child friend that gained hearing and she didn't realize you could control the volume of your voice.
So when I whispered to hear she said, hang on I think I need to adjust my hearing aid. At first I just thought oh it mustn't be working, until I realized what was going on. She whispered to me for about two weeks solid just to practice :D :D :D
Yes she also practiced shouting, but we did that in secluded woodlands.
X0AN
A Woof is Loud.
My cousin was born deaf and went through an operation to recover part of his hearing when he was 12. He sometimes uses hearing aids but can get by without them in general.
His family had a bunny, Tupu. Of course he had learned about cows mooing, cats meowing etc. before he had his surgery. He was very shocked when he came home and greeted his bunny that it made no sound. It took the longest time for him to understand that bunnies are pretty quiet animals in general.
He explained he thought all pets were loud.
RottenCactus
The radiators rattle...
My old roommate in NYC got implants at... I think he was 25 or 26... he was shocked that the radiators in the house didn't make noise... he could feel them, and was absolutely sure, given their shaking and vibrating from time to time, that they were going to be quite noisy.
On the flipside, he was deeply annoyed by the buzz of fluorescent lighting, which he did not expect to make noise.
firefly212
Blinks....
Well, after the cochlear implant, I started hearing a lot of things that I never knew existed. But, here are a few things I thought would make a noise, but NOPE. (edit to clarify this)
- I expected the light bulbs to hiss or flickering sound when you turn them on. I was so disappointed.
- I thought you could hear your eyes close, "blink" but there is no sound when you close your eye lids. No whoosh.
- You know how wind makes a noise going through trees? I thought it would make more noises going through hair. Nope.
- Now I could hear soft sounds, but I still get spooked when I see a bug crawling, and I don't hear it. They don't make a noise. at. all.
- Pooping does not make a sound, only the splash into the toilet. I thought the body makes a noise to push it out. I was disappointed. archcity
The Flower's Beauty....
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Seems like everyone is answering the reverse. My friend was got his hearing at age 6. He swears to this day that he thought flowers would make some sort of noise and that's what attracted bees.
Golden_Moth
Love Making....
A former coworker went to RIT, where they've got a school for the deaf. In the summer time, hearing all the deaf students loudly having sex with the windows open because they didn't realize how loud they were was one of the funniest things about going there accd to him.
nitsky416
Chew Quiet.
Not me, my good friend who's hard of hearing told me about how before he got hearing aids, he thought that all fridges made a beeping sound (like an alarm) when you open them so the house knows when you're getting something.
Turns out his mom just told him that to stop him from eating all their snacks.
stitchpuke
"secret noise."
My daughter suffered from recurring ear infections, that went on for over a year, before I could get the doctors to push for tubes in her ears. I felt that she was either unable to hear or that it was very muffled. The doctor that placed the tubes confirmed my suspicions in stating that she most likely heard noise as though she was "under water."
I cannot attest to what EXACTLY she expected to make noise, but I still tear up when I think about her face as she re-explored the entire house with renewed fascination. I can however, give my subjective opinion based on her facial expressions- the thing that sticks out the most is the refrigerator. She was in awe over the humming noise that it makes, a noise that we often tune out because we are so accustomed to it.
As she focused on that appliance for a bit, she made her way around to everything else that was large and stood in front of it, as if she was expecting everything to have its own "secret noise." I can't say for sure, but the amount of time that she stayed with her face pressed up against the inactive washing machine and dryer, leads me to believe with almost certainty, that she was expecting those to hum and whir as well. At her age, you wouldn't expect her to make a correlation between similarly sized appliances, but I'll be damned if it didn't appear that way.
mlball315
Damn Kids.
Hmmm, again obligatory not me but my dad progressively went deafer as life went on and was almost 100% deaf by around age twenty. He got a cochlear implant when I was around seven years old, put them in, asked my mom "are the kids always this damn loud?" and proceeded to take the cochlear implant off so he didn't have to listen to my little brother and I yelling. Always thought that was funny.
bojanglesround2
Choo-Choo....
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I couldn't hear until I was around 4ish. I remember being surprised trains were relatively quiet for their size.
MessageDarren
Most trains are loud as hell in my experience.
goombalsded
Of course, most of the time, it was “just a phase". And looking back, those phases are regrettable, to say the least. Here are some prime examples of that.
SirGergoyFriendman asked:
What was your biggest/most regrettable "It's not a phase, mom. It's my life." that, in fact, turned out to be just a phase and not your life?
The enthusiasm of a young person can lead to some unexpected changes that parents are just not ready for.
Hi, Wheeljack!
I was VERY into The Transformers when I was a wee lad in the 1980s. One day, I decided to change my name to the name of my favorite Autobot. My name was lame, and I wanted an awesome Transformer name. And I was VERY insistent that my parents only call me by my new name. Calling me by my 'old' name would cause a big fat tantrum on my part.
So for the better part of a week, my poor parents had to call me Wheeljack.
Very 2008.
Ariana Grande Shrug GIFGiphyMy cat-ear phase. I wore cat ears every single day. Everywhere. I had like 20 pairs of them. Now everyone thinks I'm a furry.
I find that very cute and wouldn't have thought you'd be furry. Even if you'd had cat mittens. I think my suspicions would have started if you moved a bit like a cat, displayed catlike grooming habits or got a cat mask.
Not gonna lie, that car sounds cool.
I went to a car show once as a teen, and the only newer car there was some chick's PT cruiser. It was hot glittery pink, and at the time I was obsessed. I insisted that one day I would have a hot pink car, with pink seats, pink dash, pink carpets, etc. I was pretty heavily goth at the time, so my parents just rolled their eyes.
These phases can often lead to some very strange fashion choices.
That’s commitment.
When I was a teenager (early 00s), I was waiting for my mother to pick me up and was wearing one of those sh!tty sports wristwatches. It was itching me so I took it off for a second, but then she arrived and because I was struggling to get it back on my wrist, I looped it around the equally sh!tty chain I had around my neck in a rush to get out the door.
My mom asked me about it in the car, and I told her this was my new style and I planned to wear it like that every day. She rolled her eyes.
I wore that watch on a chain around my neck every single day for 3 years or so. There are even professional family photos where I'm wearing it because I refused to take it off.
One day, the chain broke and I lost the watch. I was in high school at that point anyway and it was a major lady repellent, so... phase over.
Not everyone can be Eminem.
slim shady eminem GIFGiphyBaggy pants, being a rapper someday and being a professional skater.
When I was about 14 and Eminem was starting to blow up I bought myself a keyboard with a synthesizer. It cost like $200 which was all the money I had saved up. It finally came (this was way before amazon prime and such) and I tried rapping.
My sister told me "you're effing horrible" and I gave up right then and there.
This should be a sin.
I used to button the top buttons of polo shirts.
I must say, this is probably the worst one I've read.
Looking back at our regrettable choices, all we can do is cringe.
An optimistic look at bad tattoos.
check me out season 3 GIF by PortlandiaGiphyBeing a tattooer. Regrettable because of those poor people who have my awful doodles on their bodies.
Take heart! My favorite tattoo is the one I drunkenly got my buddy to do in his living room one year during March Madness! It's dumb and frankly mediocre? But such a good story and has such good associations I smile every time I see it.
RIP Fredro’s.
My friend and I decided we were going to open a bar in Jamaica with exotic snakes in glass cages in the walls at each booth. We convinced ourselves it would be amazing for at least two years in college. It was going to be called Fredro's.
My entire family made fun of me for it. Once we got out of college, we realized it was not feasible and joined the office grind. We're also two white guys with no ties to Jamaica.
Talk about cringey.
I wore a top hat with an anime pin on it for around a year. Met one of my current best friends while wearing it, idk how he could bear to speak to me after that.
My weirdest phase was probably when I insisted on wearing knee-high rainbow socks to school every day. But honestly, I don't regret it. I rocked those socks, and I wish I still have a pair.
To all the people out there cringing over their past selves, remember that you were just a kid, and to be easy on yourselves. After all, we've all been there
Yet, too often, manufacturers who oversell their products fail to deliver what is promised and are inevitably left with angry customers who want their money back.
Whether the merchandise was defective or ridiculously overpriced, strangers online shared some of their worst purchases when Redditor BooksMcGee asked:
"What is the worst product you ever paid money for?"
Short Life Span
"This NERF gun that's supposed to shoot tennis balls for your dog. I bought it cause I thought you could load 3 at a time and shoot them far, but it's just one and it's super loud and the gun broke after like 4 shots (reading reviews later, this was a common issue)."
Lame Pets
"There were these toys called squiggles when I was a kid and the commercials made it seem like the toy was alive. It looked like you would get this crazy little fuzzy worms as pets that would follow you around an so sick tricks and listen to your every command. It was really just a piece of fluffy string tied to another piece of string with googly eyes on it. People may say that it was supposed to be a magic trick but they should also explain that to a 5 year old who really wanted a pet."
Card Value
"Not their fault, but I paid $70 for a Yugioh card hours before it was limited to one copy. Probably dropped to $20 by the end of the day."
These purchases were bad for your bum.
"A bicycle that literally fell apart before I made it out of the parking lot."
Not Worth Sitting On
"Joybird brand couch. Was so terrible, we returned it. Still hard to believe, we returned a freaking couch."
Going Nowhere Fast
"A 2000 VW Beetle (used)."
"Biggest piece of sh*t that literally had to have just about everything replaced before 100k miles and would still break down every time you left the driveway to the point where the tow-truck driver knew us on a first-name basis."
Expensive Lemon
"An Oldsmobile Achieva from one of those buy here pay here places. I should have known better, but I was young and thought I was getting a good deal. I had the thing for about 5 months, I drove it for maybe 3 weeks. The rest of the time it was either in the shop, or in my driveway waiting until pay day so I could afford to fix whatever broke on it this week. Eventually told the dealer just take it, I'm not paying for it any more. He said nope, and I will make sure your credit is ruined. I said well you sold me a lemon, do you really want to go this route? He came and took it. Never reported anything to credit. I heard he got sued by several other people who sold sh**ty cars too and eventually went out of business."
"Always amazes me when I see them driving around still, I can only assume there's enthusiasts who just love repairing horribly designed cars."
– zerbey
These Redditors were not convinced what they ingested was edible.
Bad Cereal
"A box of plain Cheerios. Thought they were honey nut, poured a bowl, was very disappointed."
"If I wanted to taste cardboard, I'd just eat the box."
– gor8884
Space Pizza
"A burnt frozen pizza at the air and space museum cafe in DC. I Don't wish that experience on anyone. There are some amazing restaurants in DC, don't settle."
– Alseids
The following electronics just gave off a bad charge.
"Asus Transformer Pad TF700"
"This was one of those early 'high end' Android tablets that was grossly underpowered, and it showed. Thing was slow as sh!t in no time flat. Rookie mistake investing into shiny new tech while they were still working all the bugs out. Think I paid somewhere in the neighborhood of $350-400 for it..."
– Luke5119
Bad Apple
"macbook pro 2018 13" touchbar. 2 years old and dead (battery). they're asking $300-$400 to change the battery. malfunctioning keyboard with double presses and missing presses. that's a lot of money for bad design."
Chilly Reception
"Past winter my old room heater broke down and I had to buy a new one. Went to a store nearby and somehow got convinced to buy a very costly heating device.. It's also my fault, since there were some sligthly cheaper options around, but nope. I wanted the expensive one thinking it will make my small room a volcano with little to no effort/cost (that's also what the seller told me). Long story short the device wasn't doing ANYTHING. No significant temperature changes, too much space, a weird noise, and was doubling my previous device in utility cost. I still gloom over those 80 euros.."
Some of my disappointing purchases was clothing, but only because I purchased them online. Unless they are a brand I'm familiar with, I'm usually fine with buying new jeans off of their websites.
But when it comes to graphic tees only available on specialty shops, an M-size shirt is not necessarily the same size as those found in other reputable stores.
I bought a medium sized T-shirt from a boutique store online because I loved the look of the design. But when it arrived, the supposed medium fit me like an XL.
At least I gained a fierce cleaning rag from this impulsive purchase.