Alice in the Soundland

Alice in the Soundland

“Sounds of Dreams. Reportage and Interviews”.

Alicja in the Soundland

Agnieszka Rogal

Alicja would like to beateacher.For now, she teaches her toys.A lesson starts in Alicja's room:dolls sit in the first row, stuffed toys are behind them, while teddies occupy the places at the back.The girl looks around the room and whispers: “Quiiiet.”

Alicja is able to hear whisper.We can say that she finally hears it or that she has learned to hear it.The girl was born with abilateral hearing loss – 50-60dB for the right ear and 80dB for the left ear.

Hearing banana

Imagine that:Alicja’s right ear does not hear the rustle of autumn leaves, the chirping of birds, a stubborn fly – any quiet sounds.She does not understand human speech in anoisy environment.Her left ear hears only some loud sounds, like avacuum cleaner or apiano.It does not hear the wind in the trees, the dripping of water, the voices of her mum and dad.

At least this is what it used to be like at the beginning.

When she was four months old, ahearing aid appeared in her life.It was the first major change she experienced, like crossing the boundary between light and darkness.Silence gave in to sound.At first, sound seemed to be astranger.Eight months later, when Alicja was barely one year old, Ania – ahearing therapist – appeared at her home.Alicja was sitting on her mum’s lap, shooting her unfriendly side-glances.There were no meaningful gestures or cordialities that winter.Not even a handshake or an exchange of smiles.Alicja approached the stranger with adistance.There was only quiet sobbing, embarrassment and hiding behind her mother’s back.Ania understood that the girlwas distrustful and that she needed time.

The therapist’s briefcase

That winter was the beginning of sixty-minute therapy sessions delivered twice aweek.With time, the child becomes accustomed to this and curiosity replaces the initialdistrust.Because who would not want to know what treasures are hidden in the therapist’s briefcase?Ania has such abriefcase and Alicja is impatient to see what is inside.It turns out that inside there are small percussion instruments:atriangle, asmall drum, axylophone, atambourine.They look like toys but only the adults know that this is not all there is to them.

First the therapist has to check what Alicjacan hear, from what distance, and if she can hear anything at all.She notes down that the aid is fitted well, the girl responds to sounds.Alicja can hear them from over her head and from behind; she turns when her mum calls her from adistance of one metre.She follows the voices, responds to them.This is good, Ania thinks.And she watches her small patient carefully.In the meantime, the girl gradually starts to repeat:pa, ba, ma, ta.She does not combine syllables into words yet, she just babbles.Ania believes that eventually she will.

The hearing aid is of the size of a headphone and it lets sounds travel through the ossicles in Alicja’s head.It is placed in the ears.The band to which it is attached cannot be taken off during the day.Alicja does not mind it.What she does not like thoughis that once in awhile it has to be taken off for asecond so that her hair can be tidied up.The girl then complains that she cannot hear, and she has already come to enjoy the world of sounds.Fortunately, the bands are colourful.Alicja has afew of them to match various dresses and sweaters.The girl can see in the mirror how flattering they are.

Bathing in words

When parents learn that their child is deaf or suffers from ahearing loss, they stop talking to it.They do not lower their voices while leaning over the baby, they do not sing lullabies or hum, they do not say that they will feed it and dress it up, that they will go for awalk, neaten its cap, feed the squirrels, put it to bed.They do not whisper “my angel,” “sweetie,” or that mummy and daddy love each other.When the child cannot hear, they think that there is no point in saying these words.

Or maybe they speak them only in their minds.

“This is amistake,” Ania says, and she presents the theory of “bathing achild in words.”It is important to talk to achild. To bathe it in words.Alicja’s parents talked to her from the very beginning, even before they learnt what their daughter could hear and how.

Bathing achild in words means describing everything the parents do.Their silence is aproblem as it does not help the child.It is important to make up for lost time and accustom children to sounds.This is why the therapist is happy that Alicja has been bathed in words since she was an infant.Now she is able to listen.So what that she sometimes does not know what she hears.She will learn it soon enough.

In the therapy of ahearing-impaired child, the level of task difficulty increases with age.Alicja is two years old;if told:“when I play the triangle, throw ablock to the bucket,”she must focus, listen intently.

Later it gets even harder.When Ania plays adrum while sitting behind Alicja’s back, the girl is able to point to the right instrument.She has mastered the task, and the treasure from the therapist’s briefcase is not so magical any more.

Alicja’s therapy is gathering pace.She now responds to her name.Thanks to laborious exercises and hard work she knows now that she is Alicja, Allie, or Ali.She must repeat one word several times, slowly and distinctly, to memorise it.Sometimes, just for fun, Alicja and her therapist play the game of trees in the wind.They wave their arms to the right and to the left, saying “shooo.”

After the session, Alicja works with her parents.Sometimes they have to overcome their daughter’s stubbornness.But when her crisis passes, they practice concentration and teach her to listen.

Ania notes down the girl’s achievements:“She responds to the majority of sound signals, even those with low acoustic intensity, such as whisper.She recognises sounds made by people, animals, vehicles, and the sounds of nature.When she hears something new, she asks what it is.She talks to herself, tells stories, asks questions, and invents riddles.She jokes and sings songs.She likes playing pranks on her dad.She also enjoys going to kindergarten and playing with children but she dislikesthe restingtime.She has to learn and practice all the time, often more than her peers.She can count to ten now.Alicja lives anormal life.She knows that it is autumn now.She is able to point at colourful trees, chestnuts and name them; she likes rustling the leaves and jumping into puddles in her wellingtons. After all, this is the best outdoor activity the season offers.She can also behave like aprincess – when she does not like something, she pretends not to hear it.”

I would like to thank Ms. Ania Kulikowska, ahearing therapist from the Sounds of Dreams Programme.

Agnieszka Rogal – a Lower Silesian, aculture anthropologist, a journalist and reporter of Radio TOK FM.