FVD 143S  Spring 2008
Two Listening and Reflection Exercises

1. Listen and Reflect. Allow at least an hour for this exercise. You will need some foam earplugs like those used to protect hearing from exposure to loud noises from machines, etc. Find those with a minimum of 32 db of attenuation. They are usually  available at local pharmacies. You will also need paper and pen for taking notes. Choose a location and a time where you can safely and comfortably stay for about half an hour with severely diminished hearing. If there is any doubt about your safety, pick another location or take friend with you.

    This is an exercise in critical listening. Get comfortable and just listen for a few minutes. Do not attempt to write anything in the journal at this point. Just relax and listen to the space you have chosen. Give yourself five minutes or so to settle down.

    Now, insert the earplugs properly, get quiet, and keep listening. Don't speak out loud until the end of the exercise. Use your journal to record what you hear. Here are a few sets of questions you should answer. You may think of more. Answer them while you have the earplugs in. Keep the earplugs in for the full thirty minutes even though you may have finished answering all the questions. Just keep listening and reflecting on the experience.

1.  What is your overall impression of the experience?  Are you physically comfortable, uncomfortable? Are you emotionally comfortable, uncomfortable? Are the earplugs affecting your physical comfort? How do they feel?
2. What can you hear? Try to pick out the sounds you can actually hear. How does that sound differ from how it would sound without the plugs? Listen for differences beyond "it is quieter." What other characteristics does the audible sound have? Are the sounds of your body in play here?
   
3. What can you see? Are you in a position to see things moving? Can you hear the sounds that all the moving things are making? Describe the sound-making objects that you can hear. Describe those that you cannot hear. How do they differ? What is the relationship between the objects you can hear and those you cannot? Can you hear anything you cannot see?
4. How does the experience progress? Do you get more comfortable or less comfortable as time goes on? Are you struggling with boredom? Do you think you are hearing more or less as the minutes pass?
   

    After about thirty minutes, say something out loud in a normal speaking voice. It doesn't matter what you say. Just a few words. Then remove the earplugs and record more of your experiences in the journal. Your journal entry should address at least the following questions:.

1. What is your overall impression of the change? How did your voice sound to you. How was it different from normal. What did the earplugs themselves sound like coming out? How did they feel physically? How did it sound when you touched the plugs with your fingers to remove them? Did removing the plugs impact your emotional or physical comfort state? How would you describe the general change in sound once you removed the earplugs? Use descriptors that go beyond "it got louder."
   
2. What can you hear now? Again try to pick sounds you can actually hear. Which ones do you hear now that you did not hear before? What about he sounds you could hear with the plugs in? How do they sound now? Describe the differences.
3. What can you see? Did removing the plugs have any effect on objects you could see? Did the enhanced hearing draw your eye to anyplace it had not visited while you had the plugs in? Can you now hear anything that you cannot see? Describe it. Can you now see anything that you cannot hear (something that you suppose would generating sound)? Describe
4. What do you remember? Can you make a comparison between what you were hearing before you put the earplugs in and what you were hearing once you took them out? Is it possible to hear the same way (after earplug removal) intentionally without first inserting earplugs?

    That is it. Bring your journal to class and be prepared to share your experience. Feel free to add new reflections to your journal in the hours and days following the experience.


2. The Hard Choice: A Reflective Essay. Imagine you have not been feeling well lately. You visit the doctor and he gives you some very bad news. You have a brain condition which, if left untreated, will result in your certain demise. Your doctor does have some good news, however. There are a couple of surgical procedures that can cure the condition with near 100% success. Both are equally effective. There is a problem, however. One of the procedures will leave you permanently blind. The other will leave you permanently deaf. Doing nothing will leave you permanently dead. You have to make a choice. Which would you choose?

    Write a short (more than one but fewer than five printed pages) reflective essay explaining which of the courses of action you would take and why. Be prepared to read and/or otherwise share it in class.

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