Parties

[Arborbridge]

Even if I put my hearing aid in, it just everything louder rather than clearer.

Arb.

This.

My audiologists dont understand this.

I've tried a private hearing aid (trialled it) in case it was the "build quality" - no change.

I find it easier in places with ambient background noise to actually not wear the aid at all. The only time the aid is useful ie doesnt exascerbate background noise, is eg at home with just one or two people in an otherwise quiet room. When I don't need it anyway.

didds

Going off topic but I find my very expensive Phonak ones are good in noisy surroundings, up to a point anyway, but you need to keep them clean and wax free (the hearing aids that is) If I wear them outside and car passes by it sounds like a tractor on steroids though.

Dod

I think my trouble must be some sort of damage to the hearing mechanics. I nearly drowned once and as a result of a lot of water in the ear, ended up with distortion and tinnitus. Choral music particularly annoys the distortion part, and high notes on the violin just vanish. So I've think amplifying the signal doesn't help as it makes the result of the damage worse. It's akin to magnifying an image from a poor camera - it's a soft image.

Arb.

[Lootman]

it is only too easy to slip from a couple of drinks to..........well more than a couple. But it seems a shame to ban it altogether.

That's how I feel. It's not a matter of the two extremes. People who are teetotal can be a bit preachy about it (as can vegans but I am genuinely not taking a shot at RS here). Whilst alcoholics are almost always tiresome.

The only reason I would stop drinking altogether is if I could not cut down on intake if I wanted to. And that of course is the AA 12-step concept - that even one drink means more than one drink. So feeling that you have to stop completely can indicate a problem with alcohol. Those without a problem can scale their drinking.

One couple I know have solved this dilemma by drinking every other day. They enjoy their wet days more because of the dry days. It seems to work for them. It also means they can buy better wine.

As for parties, like most here I used to love them and now hate them. From age 18 to 35 I hosted 3 parties a year, with anything up to 150 people. That would be a living hell now. In fact I don't really like socialising in either my house or somebody else's house since, in both cases, it can be hard to leave without offence. I socialise down the pub or not at all and, since March, it has mostly been not at all.

[didds]

. So I've think amplifying the signal doesn't help as it makes the result of the damage worse. It's akin to magnifying an image from a poor camera - it's a soft image.

Arb.

AIUI modern aids only amplify certain ranges - not "everything". Not that seems to work for me of course as per the above!

LOL

didds

[Arborbridge]

. So I've think amplifying the signal doesn't help as it makes the result of the damage worse. It's akin to magnifying an image from a poor camera - it's a soft image.

Arb.

AIUI modern aids only amplify certain ranges - not "everything". Not that seems to work for me of course as per the above!

LOL

didds

Indeed - they tune the amplification to the frequencies where one's hearing loss is worse. This is done as a matter of course, but that does not solve the essential problem, which is distortion, or lack of clarity.

Ar.

[AsleepInYorkshire]

This.

My audiologists dont understand this.

I've tried a private hearing aid (trialled it) in case it was the "build quality" - no change.

I find it easier in places with ambient background noise to actually not wear the aid at all. The only time the aid is useful ie doesnt exascerbate background noise, is eg at home with just one or two people in an otherwise quiet room. When I don't need it anyway.

didds

Going off topic but I find my very expensive Phonak ones are good in noisy surroundings, up to a point anyway, but you need to keep them clean and wax free (the hearing aids that is) If I wear them outside and car passes by it sounds like a tractor on steroids though.

Dod

I think my trouble must be some sort of damage to the hearing mechanics. I nearly drowned once and as a result of a lot of water in the ear, ended up with distortion and tinnitus. Choral music particularly annoys the distortion part, and high notes on the violin just vanish. So I've think amplifying the signal doesn't help as it makes the result of the damage worse. It's akin to magnifying an image from a poor camera - it's a soft image.

Arb.

Pardon.

Part of my hearing loss is due to issues with my sinus'. Some days can be worse than others. Might be worth trying an antihistamine Arb?

AiY

[Lootman]

Perhaps it was inevitable, given the demographic here, that a topic that started about wild parties would end up with people comparing their hearing aids.

[MrFoolish]

I like meeting up with people in pubs but I don't like parties. Have never been able to put my finger on why. Anyone else feel the same?

[Lootman]

I like meeting up with people in pubs but I don't like parties. Have never been able to put my finger on why. Anyone else feel the same?

Yes, I am just the same. I mentioned one possible reason earlier, that if you are entertaining or being entertained in a house, you usually cannot just up and leave when you want, for fear of offending. Whereas in a pub you can always come and go as you please.

You also have to worry about breaking something or spilling something in someone else's house, or someone else doing that in your house.

Growing up both my parents were very social, but never in the house, always outside in a pub (dad) or elsewhere (mum). So it is possible I just inherited that along the way. I did house parties in my twenties and early thirties, and dinner parties from mid thirties to fifty or so. Now I'd rather go to a restaurant, when they are open.

Pubs and restaurants are for socialising; home is a sanctuary from the world, a place to not feel stressed by other people.

[UncleEbenezer]

Begs the question of definition. Somewhere between "come in for a coffee" and the full rigmarole of formal invitations, tarting up, etc, who would draw a line?

[MrFoolish]

I like meeting up with people in pubs but I don't like parties. Have never been able to put my finger on why. Anyone else feel the same?

Yes, I am just the same. I mentioned one possible reason earlier, that if you are entertaining or being entertained in a house, you usually cannot just up and leave when you want, for fear of offending. Whereas in a pub you can always come and go as you please.

Yep, I can relate to this. Also, in a pub, you are with a particular group you tend to know well, and you just chip in on the conversation as you see fit. But with parties, you can get different groups in different rooms, and you have the hassle of deciding which group to hang out with, or whether you'll just sit on your own and chat to the pot plant...

[AleisterCrowley]

I used to love a good party - trouble is I don't get invited to any these days
By good I mean loads of people standing around drinking and talking, with a bit of background music (not too loud). Thankfully I've never been invited to a 'dinner party' - the idea of being trapped with loads of people going on about about house prices and school fees..shudder
I love socialising with friends in a decent pub, drinking real beer. I have really missed it this year. We had a group Zoom party last night, but it's not the same. And beer from a can never tastes as good as draught real ale.

[JohnB]

In my social circle (SF Fandom) we go to parties to talk to people, so music is never intrusive, and often absent. With a group ethos in its 90th year, people have often known each other for decades. and although PC limitations are spreading, conversation is generally wide-ranging and tolerant. Conversation is lubricated by alcohol, but rarely subsumed by it.

[UncleEbenezer]

I used to love a good party - trouble is I don't get invited to any these days
By good I mean loads of people standing around drinking and talking, with a bit of background music (not too loud). Thankfully I've never been invited to a 'dinner party' - the idea of being trapped with loads of people going on about about house prices and school fees..shudder
I love socialising with friends in a decent pub, drinking real beer. I have really missed it this year. We had a group Zoom party last night, but it's not the same. And beer from a can never tastes as good as draught real ale.

Dinner Party? You evidently keep the wrong company! We can bore with the best of them, but not on those particular subjects.

We - choir and orchestra - had a bit of a zoom do earlier this evening, which is about as social as we can get nowadays. In a pub I'd almost certainly have been on the beer, but at home I brought out the Talisker for it.

[Itsallaguess]

I became quite good at lip-reading and being quite an introvert, always found it uncomfortable mingling with people I didn't know.

Alcohol helped though, maybe too much. I think that I became best friends with complete strangers and agreements for further meets were planned, but it all evaporated in the morning.

Got sent this yesterday, and thought of this thread -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VoKwKnZRv4g

Merry Christmas everyone!

Cheers,

Itsallaguess

[Dod101]

I became quite good at lip-reading and being quite an introvert, always found it uncomfortable mingling with people I didn't know.

Alcohol helped though, maybe too much. I think that I became best friends with complete strangers and agreements for further meets were planned, but it all evaporated in the morning.

Got sent this yesterday, and thought of this thread -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VoKwKnZRv4g

Merry Christmas everyone!

Cheers,

Itsallaguess

Merry Christmas to all. Yes I got that one yesterday as well. It is obviously doing the rounds.

Dod

[bungeejumper]

The last proper party I got invited to was three years ago, at the House of Lords. They do know how to throw a bash properly up there. Never seen so much champagne. I had to get my colleague out of there in the end, though, he was completely legless. (Not that anybody else would have been sober enough to notice, actually, but we had a train to catch. )

No, it wasn't in the debating chamber, but in one of the adjoining suites. The Lordships and Baronesses and so forth have the right to use the suites for business bashes, and this one had a connection to government policy, so fair enough I suppose. I have no idea who was footing the bill, but I really hope it wasn't the taxpayer?

On which note, happy Christmas all!

BJ

[Nimrod103]

The last proper party I got invited to was three years ago, at the House of Lords. They do know how to throw a bash properly up there. Never seen so much champagne. I had to get my colleague out of there in the end, though, he was completely legless. (Not that anybody else would have been sober enough to notice, actually, but we had a train to catch. )

No, it wasn't in the debating chamber, but in one of the adjoining suites. The Lordships and Baronesses and so forth have the right to use the suites for business bashes, and this one had a connection to government policy, so fair enough I suppose. I have no idea who was footing the bill, but I really hope it wasn't the taxpayer?

On which note, happy Christmas all!

BJ

Hence the expression 'Drunk as a Lord'.

[didds]

And beer from a can never tastes as good as draught real ale.

at the risk of repeating myself ad nauseum, you may need to readdress what you are drinking in a can.

Abnd at least aropund here and other places Ive researched there are plentty iof pubs and vbrerweries selkling real akle as take aways and deliveeries via various mneans - growlers, crowlers, mini kegs, bag in Box etc

didds

[UncleEbenezer]

at the risk of repeating myself ad nauseum,

Is that an effect of what you are drinking?

I am reminded of that abominable fad, the "widget" in a beer can. As I recollect it, it was promoted as something that made canned beer into something like draught.

[didds]

at the risk of repeating myself ad nauseum,

Is that an effect of what you are drinking?

I am reminded of that abominable fad, the "widget" in a beer can. As I recollect it, it was promoted as something that made canned beer into something like draught.

a very 1990s fad - and by "draught" it meant "Nitro keg". (and yes for a 90s fad it still exists of course)

You may rest assured that is not what I was meaning in my eaerlier post...