Plugged / Unplugged

Seven Days of Suppressed Hearing

October 23, 2024, 7PM – October 30, 2024, 7PM

Foam earplugs, wood, acrylic paint and steel tacks.

Day 1

-Teeth are loud inside my head

-Flexing Jaw and moving ear sounds like thunder

-Slight ringing

– When smoking my bong, it sounds like I am underwater

-I am wondering if I will be startled more easily

-I am wondering if I will wake up to my alarms

-Changed tone of alarm to be lower to hear it through the plugs

-I am wondering if I will be able to hear lectures

-Thankfully, I can still hear discord very softly at full volume by placing headphones over my ears while they are plugged.

-YouTube is boring, even with subtitles

-Going to be at 8pm to counter any alarm issues

Day 2

-I attended a drum circle and sung a solo verse. This was a new song, and I had to learn it based off vibrations from the drums and the lips of our leader’s mouth.

-When I showered, it sounds like water running through the walls of my brain

-I felt in my own world, present but dislocated

-While communicating on Discord, miss-hearing caused some frustrations for others

-The lecture I attended was extremely hard to follow along with, and ironically it was a lecture on performance art

-I had to make assumptions during the lecture which likely affected my comprehension of the material presented

-I found myself looking at faces more

– I began using my neck and head a lot more in my activities

Day 3

-There is a Halloween party today, so I am already on edge with anxiety

-I found my focus to be hyper-active, finding myself tunnel visioned in all tasks

-I felt a lack of control as to what I could focus on due to focusing on everything

-The audio in my video game which typically provides dopamine did not provide satisfaction

-At the Halloween party, I felt extremely isolated and ended up leaving shortly after arriving

-Upon leaving, I had a conversation with people who knew of my performance, which made them loud and easy to understand

-The bus was easier to lose track of the stop to get off of

-Had to use my visual senses to see traffic when crossing roads

-Sound paranoia decreased, but I developed a new form of paranoia, where I feared my voice was too loud

Day 4

-I had a lazy day, spent isolated on my computer

-Towards the end of the day, ear canals were inflamed and extremely sore

-I bought over-ear noise blockers at the hardware store to give my ears time to breath

-I could not shower, sleep or go out with the over-ear headphones but they helped provide relief while in my home

Day 5

-After giving my ear canals rest, I began to engage with music, which I could hear through cranking the volume extremely loud

-I did some co-op gaming online and my friends forgot I had suppressed hearing, causing so many miscommunication issues I was unable to play

-I ordered food at Tim Hortons, and the man at the counter was yelling at my after I could not hear him the first two times

Day 6

-We had an instructional lesson on how to record professional audio with fancy microphones

-I was unable to hear direct instructions, so I found myself going up to the front, and using my eyes to see what was going on

-In my evening lecture, the professor mentioned my name, but I was unsure as to why. This gave my tremendous anxiety

Day 7

-I attended a sculpture studio class, where communication was easy since everyone is so loud

-At 7pm, I removed my earplugs, which filled my mind with so many noises simultaneously

-I explained to my class briefly how my experience was, while talking really loudly

-I attended an artist talk, and really enjoyed being able to hear clearly again, having access to audio information provided once again