The Born Loser by Art and Chip Sansom for June 04, 2023

If I understand correctly Uncle Ted would like to isolate himself from the outside world. Maybe so as not to listen to so much nonsense that people say, and not just on television. Or am I wrong?

i can control my new Bluetooth enabled hearing aids with an app on my phone. I have several presets, including restaurant, cafe, sports, live music, etc. Or I can create my own. I can lower background noise, enhance the microphone in front of me, or enhance it generally. I can also listen to my computer or phone with my hearing aids.

Been seeing a lot of ole Uncle Ted lately, haven’t we?

That’s a beef I have with new shows lately. Could it be my age is getting older? For many new shows it gets harder and harder to enjoy because the people especially women talk in such low whispers that you can only understand maybe 50% of what they say. Every two minutes you ask “What was that she said?” Most of that was “Mumble, mumble mumble!” But if you turn the volume up when the music starts it is a crashing jumbo jet crescendo and you have to clap your hands over your ears out of pain!

That never happened with old shows such as “I Love Lucy.” Back then you could understand every single word of the dialog with no problems. (Even with Rickey’s Cuban accent.)

The first time I experienced that was when I watched “Silent Movie” (1976).

I only heard one word in the entire movie. ;-)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhhS13sk7eg

Perhaps you just need a hearing aid.

I have the opposite problem, so I wear noise cancelling headphones to block out noisy neighbors.

I’m waiting for a device to cancel out the beeping from the shows that use them over curse words. I can disregard the dialog just fine when I’m in the other room but the beeping cuts straight through. Just play the swear words. It’s an adult show on a cable channel.

My TV, in the settings, has a choice of sound. There’s cinema, sports, standard (which gives suboptions), clear voice, music, and game. If I have a hard time hearing the dialog I scroll through the options to find the one that works best for that show.

Anyone know what the feature is that enhances the dialogue?

Hear, hear

I have to use headphones if I want to hear and understand the TV, and it works pretty well

so would my mom, she’s hard of hearing too… well, understanding. :}

I’m with Uncle Ted, I would like that sort of selective hearing device.

Uncle Ted how about a good hearing aid? That would help all day long until you don’t want to hear someone and switch volume down.

Sadly, hearing aids don’t really help me much especially with the noisy tinnitus constantly buzzing and ringing in my head. If I turn up the TV’s sound where I can hear the voices, then an action scene’s explosive sounds cause everyone to evacuate the room. I did find an app on MS Store called DeskFX where I can set it to the retail environment so I can hear voices most effectively on my computer. Old age is not for the weak.

So poignant and so true. I’m in your camp Uncle Ted.

If there is a streaming service that actually cuts down the background noise and heightens the dialogue, I would probably be watching it exclusively.

What he wants sounds like having youthful hearing again without wearing hearing aids. I’m with him……

“Closed caption” works for me in most cases.  However, sometimes even closed caption doesn’t understand what’s being said!

Some days here, the closed captioning on a local news program is the funniest thing on tv.

I have been wearing hearing aids since I was 34. The result of my failure to wear ear plugs all the time while I was working around jet and turbo prop aircraft and their ground power units. Especially the ones for the F4. Then there was my failure to wear hearing protection from 1973 to 2015 while I was flying. I note that now everyone wears hearing protection, even while flying in a Cessna 150. I discovered I was hard of hearing when my supervisor told me something while my back was turned and I did not hear him. That is also when I discovered I had actually been reading lips for years. When I first got them I was amazed at all of the sounds I had missed, from rain, to hearing birds to gentle waves against a beach to the sounds of wind. Now I wear my hearing aids whenever I am driving, watching TV, or listening to music. Rest of the time I simply don’t bother.

Hear hear

Something tells me he’s talking about something that will cancel Brutus out.

And by the way, you make a lousy window, get out of in front of the TV.

C’mon Brutus, you’re pulling Uncle Ted’s leg. It’s called “Captions” – comes from the silent movies era – and they “see” louder than any spoken dialogue, unfortunately, unless you are in a comic you cannot see the person speaking in captions in real life. Chip, if you understand what I just said, please explain it to me and maybe Uncle Ted…

While they’re doing something about improving sounds, I’d love to see them stop filming shows in either near dark or dark settings. I stopped watching one series because I kept wanting to tell them to turn on some darned lights so I could see!

Amen, Uncle Ted! I am on a medication which the prescribing doctor says I have to be on for the rest of my life and one of the potential side effect of it is hearing loss. That potential side effect has turned into an actual side effect for me and so now, I end up turning the TV up to volume levels that I previously wouldn’t have been able to stand,

It’s nice to see Brutus noticing changes in Uncle Ted and offering some assistance.