Sight & Hearing

AUGUST 1998

Hearing vs. Listening

Are you a good listener? Hearing occurs 24-hours-a-day, even during sleep. The brain interprets every sound that comes into the ears and screens out or ignores unimportant sounds. Listening is active hearing. The brain not only receives and interprets sound, it actively processes or thinks about the sound. A hearing loss affects both hearing and listening by altering the sounds the brain receives and forcing the brain to spend more effort interpreting the sounds.

The following listening exercise, which comes from our Know Noise® hearing conservation curriculum, will help you gauge whether you are able to hear and understand directions. (It’s also a great lesson for kids!)

Read the following story out loud. Then, without looking at the story, answer the 10 questions. The answers follow.

“Good afternoon and welcome to Camp Northern Lights. Your are assigned to cabin number 5. Your cabin leader is Big John Samson. Your camp counselor is Betty Jones.

You have until 3:30 to unpack. Swimming will be at 3:45. After that, you will go canoeing and then have supper. Arts and crafts will be after supper with Sherry Patrick. To end the day, we will meet around the campfire. Bedtime is at 10:00.

Tomorrow morning, wake-up time is 7:00. Breakfast is at 8:00. After breakfast, you will meet Big John and then you may choose to meet Mr. Johnson for hiking or Mrs. Andrews for first aid training.

Lunch will be in the picnic grounds at 12:00, unless it rains.

Immediately after lunch, from 1;00 to 2;00, we will play softball. After that you may go swimming. We will meet for small group discussions at 4:00. Supper is at 6:00. At supper you will get the next day’s activity schedule.

Enjoy your five days at Camp Northern Lights!”

1. Is it morning or afternoon when you arrive at Camp Northern Lights?
a) morning
b) afternoon

2. What is your cabin number?
a) 3
b) 4
c) 5
d) 6

3. Who is your camp counselor?
a) John Samson
b) Betty Jones
c) Sherry Patrick

4. What time is swimming?
a) 2:30
b) 3:45
c) 4:00
d) 4:30

5. Who do you have arts and crafts with?
a) Sherry Patrick
b) Mr. Johnson
c) Mrs. Andrews

6. What are your activity choices after breakfast?
a) hiking or swimming
b) arts and crafts or first aid
c) hiking or first aid

7. Who do you go to for first aid training?
a) Mr. Johnson
b) Sherry Patrick
c) Mrs. Andrews

8. What activity immediately follows lunch?
a) softball
b) swimming
c) arts and crafts

9. When do you have small group discussion?
a) 3:00
b) 4:00
c) 5:00
d) 6:00

10. How many days are you at Camp Northern Lights?
a) 7
b) 6
c) 5
d) 4

Answers:
1. b
2. c
3. b
4. b
5. a
6. c
7. c
8. a
9. b
10. c