Effects of sickness and physical factors

This will be a relatively short post, no video. It was prompted today by my visit with my grandfather, who is 90.

My grandfather has been hard of hearing for longer than I've known him, due to his stepfather "boxing his ears" which was a form of punishment that involved hitting both ears (not sure if it was simultaneous or not, but it was done to both sides). Not really a punch--it involves the palm of the hands instead, and hitting the ear like that can cause hearing issues if done just right or repeatedly. So, because of this punishment from his stepfather, he has needed hearing aids, headphones, or whatever else to help him hear in different situations better.

Sometimes he doesn't wear the hearing aids, like if he uses the phone. It's difficult for him to hear an average person speak, but you combine my voice and his being hard of hearing and it's a bad situation. He didn't have his hearing aids in today when I first came over with my girls, so he had to put them in while I was talking to him. Later, my daughters got rowdy, and the screaming was painful when he had his hearing aids in. It's not a good situation for him to be in, and it's a difficult one for me to adapt to.

My voice is softer than it usually is right now because I have a cold. If I have an illness that affects the throat, my voice will generally be affected. This can involve mucus drainage, a sore throat, or even throwing up, which I suspect is due to the stress on my throat.

I can also be affected by something physically hitting my throat. I've touched upon this before. The time when this is most apparent is when one of my daughters will accidentally headbutt me in the throat while picking her up or if I have a cat decide that my throat is a good sleeping place.

Trauma to the outside of the throat can be just as harmful to trauma to the inside of the throat to me. Screaming makes me lose my voice, as it does for many people.