Hearing

I have the sort of voice that must be difficult to hear for those who are hearing impaired. I know from living with Leonard that he only gets about half of what I say and then he fills in with what he thinks I said. Later he will say: "But you said. . ." He gets quite upset with me when I say I did NOT say that. Some words sound like others to him. So he puts them in and then makes up what he needs to to make it all fit. It can be upsetting but I am learning to say: "I don't know what you heard but that is not the case." Usually he will then say: "Oh, well, it doesn't matter." The only problem is that sometimes it does. He can hear me yelling which is upsetting to the rest of you, his children, but at times speaking very loudly at him is the only thing to be done. The ear doctor said his problem is common to deaf people. Some words sound much like others and, if you can't hear the consonant, then you put one in that makes the word mean something. The brain, if it goes without the ears hearing for a period of time, forgets how to interpret the sound. Consonants are the worst. The sad thing about all of this is that, at times, Dad looks like he is confused when he would not look that way or be unclear about a response  if he heard what was said. I usually jump in and tell him what was really said (more loudly) and then the other person will start talking louder. Both the speaker and my husband then seem to understand that what my husband answered had nothing to do with what was asked.