Learning for my dad

[Keira Grant]

My dad has been struggling with hearing loss and especially bad tinnitus for a few years now. He recently got hearing aids (which he hates) which has made things a little easier for him, but he still struggles in particular to separate background noise and foreground speech when in loud places. He also struggles to hear more than one thing at once, for example if we are watching TV and there is another conversation going on in the room, he can't focus on just one or the other because of his hearing. I'm hoping that by learning BSL, we will be able to communicate with him a lot easier in public as he won't need to work so hard at separating foreground and background noises. He says he has recently taken to lip reading while someone is speaking (found he was doing it on instinct) so I think that will be a good segue to sign language for him. I also just love learning new things and have thought on and off about learning a new language for a while now. A complete aside, but my family and I all have our open water PADI diving licenses and try to dive at least once a year. While there are many signs that divers use to talk to each other underwater, having a knowledge of BSL will hopefully also allow us to open up our conversations underwater to encompass a broader range of topics (of course, facial expression and body language is very difficult with a regulator, mask and massive BCD kit in tow, but I think it will still be possible, if to a limited standard!).