If Seeing is Believing, Then Hearing is Connecting

If Seeing is Believing, Then Hearing is Connecting

When I was in sixth grade, our teacher, Mr. Kreinhop, presented us with an interesting and provocative dilemma: would we prefer to lose our hearing or our sight? During the discussion that followed, I was very surprised to learn that Mr. Kreinhop's answer was different from my own. As an eleven year old, I could not understand why anyone would choose to lose their vision (!) instead of their hearing.

My reasons for needing to keep my sight seemed so obvious to me. Without it, one cannot browse at the library, hide away with a good book, see a friend approaching, or "watch" a movie. Most importantly to a soon-to-be-teenager, one could not drive­surely a necessity for an American wanting to be truly independent. Without vision, how could one ever do all the things I thought I needed to do?

Now, as an adult who has done some of those things and who will never do others of them, and as a wife and a mother and a teacher, I would give the same answer that Mr. Kreinhop did­I would choose to lose my vision if it meant I could keep my hearing. I have two compelling reasons. First, my relationship with my children and my husband centers around the talking and listening that we do. Second, my vision of teaching has become one where teachers and students join as participants in discourse, which means they must actively communicate with each other, say what they are thinking and listen to each other to join in a conversation.

The question and my answers to it interest me now in new and different ways. What are the differences between seeing and hearing that made/make these choices so simple and obvious for me?

Here are two different sign systems. Well, actually more than two, but I am going to focus on the ones that are concerned with the communication of and between human beings, the systems upon which I based my choices. One is made up of visual signs, both verbal and nonverbal­communication based upon writing, pictures and symbols. The other is also verbal and nonverbal, the spoken word and the sounds and intonations of the speech itself, as well as the silence that can be an invaluable component of listening and conversing.

Visual sign systems are very important in our culture; so much of the communication in our society is based on visual signs, both verbal and nonverbal.