Sound Philosophy? Is this philosophy of sounds sound?

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/sounds

There are many online dictionaries/reference sites for philosophy. A lot of them will deal with senses, but I was curious about “sounds.”

www.webster.com lists 35 entries for sound and another 5 for sound.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epistemology - Take notice of the part how knowledge is acquired. Are deaf people limited in acquiring knowledge because we don’t have the ability to hear clearly?

I may have to take exception to the famous phrase “Deaf people can do anything except hear.” What sense does it make to say “hard of hearing?” Unless a person has absolutely no hearing function, they can still hear. Sounds are classified as waves, so I can feel an airplane with my feet or body. Yes, I’ve heard about shattered eardrums, but what happens to windows when the sonic boom shatters it? Did a window hear too much of the sonic boom, thus shattering? Apparently, there is a range that is acceptable, if something is said but in too low of a voice, it is not understood and also, if a word is too loud, it is not understood either. Does it mean all those amplification devices for individuals with a profound hearing loss is not doing any good? It’s just a useful tool for the individual to know there are sounds somewhere.

“Blind people can do anything, except see.” “Blind-deaf people can do anything except see and hear.” I’d rather prefer that we don’t be limited at all, because on a philosophic level, it gives people justification that we cannot do something that involves hearing then they attach all those “excellent verbal communication skills required” to job descriptions. I can hear, just not as good as other people yet it’s a dramatically different experience for me as a result. Why does it not count that when I have a good interpreter, I have excellent verbal communication skills? I can still hear, through an interpreter and maybe even actually hear when I stand in front of a huge speaker. I can do anything, but can I? Can I make the logically impossible happen? Can hearing people do anything? Should we say, “hearing people can do anything, except hear things they cannot hear?” We should be concerned with hearing people because they do not hear as well as other animals, insects, or fish. Is it ethical to give hearing people cochlear implants so they can hear well beyond what they are capable of?

Let’s consider the use of breast implants, normally used to enhance body appearance, which could be an issue of self-esteem as well as a financial benefit. That’s a physical enhancement, let’s consider the use of glasses and lasik surgery, both enhance sight. There’s a “perfect vision” defined by doctors as 20/20, but some people have the natural ability to see better. I don’t know if glasses and lasik surgery are issues of self-esteem, but they enhance your sense of sight. Blind people in many cases seem to want to dull their sight of sense by using dark glasses because their eyes are sensitive, I am clueless about blind people but I don’t know if lasik surgery that slightly increases their sight helps them any, as more light could get in and irritate them further. For people with hearing losses, I do not even know what is considered perfect hearing and do not know if cochlear implants and hearing aids boost a person’s self esteem. There may be some benefits to it, namely financial? Breast implants can reap financial rewards depending on the line of work you are in. Being able to hear and see better beyond what human beings are capable of might be detrimental. Human beings will always experience sensory overload when there is too much being experienced. Therefore, obtaining too much sight and hearing would not be something regular folks desire. I had hearing aids for most of my childhood but now; I don’t use any auditory aid of any kind, yet everything seems extremely noisy. Was it the constant exposure to “hear” anything that lead to all the ringing sound in my head? Is it ethical to constantly bombard blind children with a kaleidoscope of lights, just so they can operate like visual people? Later on, these kids grow up and they make the choice not to use “visual aids,” will they have the same flashing images in their head the same way deaf people have ringing in their heads?

Lastly, self-esteem is a powerful thing. It has nothing to do with what you have, but everything to do with what you value. Most of the time, the things you value are based on what you perceive in society/external forces. I don’t think I merely value education because I simply want to learn. I think my value on education rests on the value in society that an education leads to a good job, which supposedly leads to a good life. People value religion for the most part because of external forces, namely that they want to avoid the consequences of non-believers and bad people. (That’s a whole another topic, people have beliefs not because they want to do good, but because they want the eternal reward, so they are conditioned to avoid the worse case scenario and point that out to non-believers.) Do I value sound at all? Probably not. Would it bother me if my vocal chords were taken out? No. My eyeballs? Probably at first, but in the end I will be more likely to be thankful and be able to comprehend things with much more clarity. Having an empirical view is not necessarily the best way to acquire knowledge; hearing people still cannot explain sounds to other hearing people. I still cannot describe fully a picture of something to another person who can see. Where does the value of sound and sight come from? Should I add blasting music and strobe lights to this blog while you read this, just to reinforce the value of sound and sight? Maybe it will help you acquire more knowledge. We’ll have to revisit how the ability to have the senses became hegemony over those who don’t, or have lesser senses.