Distance Matters

I was on a small-group discussion using a video conferencing platform with friends that have been connecting online for about a year. 

I couldn’t make out anything that two of the other people in the group were saying.  They were sitting together using the same laptop, which meant they were about three feet away from their microphone.  I mentioned my problem, and how being closer to the microphone when talking makes a big difference in speech clarity.  Nobody moved.

I turned my hearing aids way up, to get as much volume as possible, which didn’t really help.  I left the call once, to replace the filters in my hearing aids, in case that was contributing to the problem.  My husband sat by my side and interpreted everything I needed to hear, in short keywords, to the extent possible. 

There’s just no point in continuing to be part of this discussion group when I can't hear well enough to understand what everyone is saying even with the help of lipreading and captions.