Hearing Post: The Weird Media Sounds in my Brain

    I have always been very sensitive when it came to loud noises, my mom used to tell me that when I was little I would have to wait outside of a movie theater till the trailers were done. They were too loud for me and would get overwhelmed and upset. But this only applied to the trailers, not the actual movie. My mom often thought my noise issues were due to the fact I watch a lot of silent cartoons or nothing super crazy, think Tom and Jerry, Pink Panther, and Creature Comforts by the Wallace and Gromit people. I suggest you look up tge creature comforts, it’s fun and slightly creepy! I wasn’t permitted by the adults who gave me DVDs to watch loud shows they’d be annoyed by. My mom also believes this could help kids learn social cues or expressions because you rely on the sound effect and visible story. I argue this since my social cues are decent depending on how my brain feels. Now as a semi-adult I am able to handle noise but I have strangely good hearing, able to know voices in the room next to me. Especially when it came to my Moms voice, even in a giant room full of middle schoolers and other directors I’d be able to hear her voice in a crowd. 

The Yip Yips, Muppets

    This made me think of the Ackerman reading with heartbeats. I know parents often talk a lot when their children aren’t born. They have to communicate with people so maybe we are able to hear our parents' voices and recognize them better because it’s the first real voice we heard. It’s the same reason whenever I hear any theme song from a show I watched as a kid I can immediately recognize it. It was the first thing most kids are exposed to on TV, now I don’t know if I could recognize a news channel my dad used to watch to get me to sleep. And I learned quickly about animal noises and when my mom became my custodial parent muppet noises. “Manama, do, do” or “yip yip” or yes the muppet foods. I had an odd childhood.Now I believe that I am the only person who can recognize muppet noises because my mom, like me, tends to make random noises when she’s  doing something. I think it’s interesting we as people try to mimic voices we hear on TV either by accident or for a laugh. Since it only works depending on the language you speak. 

    One Christmas when we were watching the cartoon Grinch my stepfather found the book. After reading he revealed that it doesn’t work in Japanese because it doesn’t rhyme if you translate it. It is something solely English. This shocked my mother who is obsessed with Dr.Seuss and tried to see if it worked in Spanish and it didn't. I think she was more devastated knowing only America can experience Seussical. Of course I would recognize a line “a person is a person no matter how small” or “it came without packages boxes or bags!”, because I grew up with them. I often play theme songs to my friends who look baffled that I watched the stuff I watched as a kid. But we all grew up hearing different things but we also learn to hear better as time goes on and it relies on memory. My grandmother is 82 and can still recognize and sing every single Barry Manilow song, she played them so much my Mom is the same. So I think when I turn 82 I’ll still remember theme songs or music that I like. Mostly because my mom picked what noises should plague my brain till the end of time.

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