The Human Voice

Doug wakes up in his apartment near Pittsburgh, PA. He starts to get ready for the day like most days, but it is Sunday and he is off work. He starts to brush his teeth, etc. and turns on the TV set. After a bit, he notices that he doesn't hear the news anchors who appear to be talking. He checks the volume and it is at 13. "Odd" he thinks, the TV must have MUTE set or something. Then a commercial comes on and he hears music playing. Ok, maybe the anchor part just had the volume cut out. He hears birds outside, and heard his shower running, etc. so his hearing is fine, right?

He goes downstairs to the outside where he is going to walk to the coffee shop a few blocks down. He goes inside and it seems quite quiet for the most part. He hears clanking of dishes and such, but nobody is talking. He goes up to order "I'll have the breakfast sandwich with sausage and a small black coffee". The waitress nods and seems to move her lips, but he doesn't hear anything. "What?" He says. Same thing, she appears to be talking, but he hears nothing. What is going on? He thinks she said "Do you want cheese?" by reading her lips, but he isn't sure. He says "Sure". She goes back to start on the order.

Doug looks around the coffee shop tables again and gets a sinking feeling. There are about 8 groups of people eating and appear to be talking, but he can't hear them at all. Its not that the words are too muddled and he can't make them all out, but he can't hear them talk at all. He only hears pouring of coffee, people buttering toast, etc. What is going on he wonders again?

He is given the food by the waitress, he sits down and pauses for a bit. He eats just a little bit and then has an idea "I'll ask the waitress if she knows where Davidson street is and see what she says." He goes over and asks her that (he knows it is a few blocks north). She appears to respond, but he can't hear her! What is going on he thinks to himself once again! He needs to get out of there. He leaves without touching anymore food or any coffee. He goes running outside and tries to find an intersection with lots of people. Oh, he hears the cars, the honking and beeping, people walking such as women in high heels. He hears all the nature noises like birds, sometimes the wind, etc. He simply cannot seem to hear human voices!

He runs back home, his mind racing with thoughts! What has happened here? He has never heard of people who can hear fine, but not hear human voices. He turns the radio on after getting home, and goes to a popular FM station. He recognizes the music of a popular 1980s hit by a band he used to really love, but there are no vocals!

He starts to panic and pulls out the phone book at first. Then he remembers its easier to just go online - he is looking for a hearing doctor. He finds out and quickly calls up in a panic. "Hello, yeah, this is Doug LaGrange...ah...ah, I can't seem..I mean I'm having hearing issues, can I get an appointment?" He then hears nothing. At first he is confused "THIS IS DOUG. I WANT AN APPOINTMENT." Then he thinks, "Oh, I she heard me and I couldn't hear her!" "Oh, what should I do?" He hangs up.

He starts thinking about his girlfriend Jane, who is off on a short business trip. He was going to call her today, but now again realizes he won't be able to hear her. He contemplates calling her anyway and just talking and telling her what happened but feels like he will be unsure if he is then talking to the right person or what or hearing any reaction. And maybe he can find a solution to this without worrying her and just have to apologize for not calling today.

He keeps searching and soon finds a hearing doctor who is very close and decides to go down there. He thinks to himself "if I write down my issue and ask them to write down the answer that will work". So he writes down "I can't seem to hear human voices, but I can hear other sounds. Please tell me what is wrong in writing". He drives to the office. When he shows the front desk worker this, she immediately goes back to the office to show the doctor.

The office was pretty slow today anyway, so the Dr. comes out, he is stunned by this, as he has never heard of such a situation. He scribbles on a piece of paper "We will run some tests on you to see what is going on, ok?" Doug nods ok and is led to the back where the Dr. performs many audio tests on him. Unfortunately for the Dr. and for Doug, it is not so obvious what is going on. If he can hear other sounds so easily, he SHOULD be able to hear the human voice.

He writes to Doug that he will have to get with some other doctors about what may be going on with him and the best way to fix it. He asks Doug to go home and rest and at first he says he will call him, then realized Doug won't hear the voice in the call. The Dr. thinks, well this is a special case - I'll go to his apartment and let him know what we can do. He writes this down for Doug to read. Doug goes home and waits.

The Dr. has found that maybe there is some kind of blocker that must have happened to Doug at the Frequency and/or range of normal human voice. They can do a surgery that would add a filter that will let those frequencies and ranges through. This is not done often the Dr. tells him in writing, but it should be a success.

The procedure will be done the next day at a surgery center. Doug shows up early as asked of him. The Dr. will implant a special device that will allow him to hear human voices again. The surgery will only take about an hour and will seem very fast to Doug as they will have him under surgery gas.

When it is all over, Doug is moved to a waiting area and is awake and he hears murmuring among nurses. The Dr looks at him "Can you hear me?" Doug smiling answers "Yes, yes, this is great!" "I hear you just fine". But now, another fear comes over Doug. He sees that in the waiting area, the Dr. has a radio on to an AM channel that features classical music. He can't hear it! He asks the Dr. about this, maybe the volume was at 0?. The Dr. looks around and checks with Doug and they find that now he can mostly ONLY hear human voices! If there are other loud sounds, he may get a faint hear of them, but mostly he can now hear people talk, but not much else. No birds chirping, no cars driving, no people walking, etc.

His girlfriend Jane comes in, having heard about the surgery he was having from a mutual friend. He hears her voice and it seems like the most beautiful music ever composed.

The Dr. gives him the option - does he want to keep his hearing this way, or the other way? Each has very strong advantages and disadvantages. He is unsure which way to go, only keeping hope that one that they will be able to find a way to fix his hearing all around. He leaves the surgery center with Jane and they go back to his apartment and talk about their future together.