Which would you do?

[LovebirdsFlying]

Poll.

If your spouse sitting next to you says something, and you couldn’t quite make it out, do you:

1.) Ask them to repeat it, please, since you didn’t hear it?

2.) Do and say nothing, don’t even look up from what you’re doing, and wait until they ask if you heard them before telling them you only picked up part of it because they were “mumbling “?

For context, I have been having speech difficulty since last October. My voice is better some days than others, and today is not a good day for it.

And to be accurate, “mumbling” is what Marlon Brando does in the Godfather movies, and Sylvester Stallone does in the Rocky movies. It’s when you barely move your mouth, and you slur your consonants together, but your vocal cords are in full force. What I’m doing is “whispering,” since no matter how much I move my lips and enunciate, I can’t make it come out any louder.

Plus, it seems to me that if he’s aware at all that I said something, he should at least respond, “What did you say? I couldn’t hear you,” instead of acting like he heard absolutely nothing, and putting it on me to ask if he did.

 

[seeking.IAM]

I would ask them to repeat it if I didn't hear it clearly enough to make a response. But sometimes, I can be so absorbed in another task that I truly don't hear it at all even if spoken at an audible level. Our concentration can be that great. Of course, the hearing ability of the listener can also be a factor. When I went to college decades ago, part of orientation was to have a speech and hearing assessment -- likely for incoming freshmen to be lab rats for the Speech and Audiology students to practice their craft. I was identified as having a high tone hearing loss, which I never knew I had and wouldn't to this day if someone hadn't told me. That is the range of my wife's voice, so I miss some things. Often the solution for not being heard is speaking in a lower tone, not louder. (I also learned I pronounce "collar, caller, and color" as the same word)

I have a friend who is even worse than I am. What his wife does, it to reach out and touch his hand when she wants his attention to tell him something. That refocuses him from whatever he is concentrating on and is a sign she wants to be heard. You might try that.

 

[Diamond72]

If your spouse sitting next to you says something, and you couldn’t quite make it out, do you:

1.) Ask them to repeat it, please, since you didn’t hear it?

I tell her to repeat it. You have to 100% deliver your message and he is 100% responsible to hear what you are saying. This is what communication is all about. We pray and we look to see what God's plan and purpose is.