Updated. I found myself in a taxpayer funded ghetto of silence last night — Room 139 in FVCC’s Arts and Technology building, a nice lecture hall with at least two podiums with microphones. But the speaker, Professor Deni Elliott of the University of South Florida, was speaking softly and without any evidence of an electronic assist, although she was using one. To say all I could hear was an educated mumble overstates the volume.
That’s because I’m north of sixty and increasingly hard of hearing. I do use an electronic assist, a little sound amplifier known as a hearing aid. With my hearing aid’s gain cranked-up a bit, I can follow a speaker’s remarks quite well — but only if that speaker uses a sound system.
But many speakers won’t do that. They ask the audience, “can you hear me clearly?” And those with good hearing reply, “Yes.” That’s enough for the speaker, who stays out of the microphone’s reception range for the rest of the evening. If there are present those who are crippled with impaired hearing, they have the choice of shouting “Speak up!,” or better yet, “Speak up, damnit! Use the frickin’ microphone!” or walking out.
I walked out, quietly. I was a few minutes late and did not want to disrupt the lecture. But once I realized I could not understand the speaker, there was no point in staying.
Both FVCC and Professor Elliott can do better than this. Lecture halls should not be ghettos of silence for those of us who need hearing aids. Last night’s debacle was avoidable, disgraceful, and unforgivable. We don’t need this kind of President’s lecture: we need the kind of college president who allowed this lectured on ethics and fundamental decency.