...if there is devastation, there must be reform

In the movie “Baby Driver”, Baby (the main character) wears headphones pretty much the whole time in an attempt to drown out the ringing of his tinnitus. He developed tinnitus from a car accident that resulted in the death of his parents.

I’ve been noticing some people are confused by this as he can still understand everything going on around him, despite the fact he has headphones in with the music loud. He is actually reading lips, using subtext, and mood.

I am hard of hearing. I get massive headaches from my ears and brain trying to discern and make sense of all the sounds around me. If you know me, you know I wear my headphones basically 24/7. I do the exact same thing Baby does. I am able to understand practically everything, even with my music turned up all the way. If you watch the film, you’ll see that Baby takes out his headphones while talking to people on occasion. I do this out of habit and manners.

So yes, it is possible for people to understand what is happening with headphones in 24/7. Not all people can do it. It is a skill people with hearing loss tend to develop.

I’d also like to mention… Please, please, PLEASE do not take our headphones out. It is super rude and plain mean. Also super happy they included ASL! And another thing, I do not recommend wearing headphones 24/7. It can cause damage to your ears. In my case it doesn’t really matter, but please take care of your ears!

Forgot a word in Spanish, while speaking Spanish to me, but remembered it in English. Became weirdly quiet as they seemed to lose their entire sense of identity.

Used a literal translation of a Russian idiomatic expression while speaking English. He actually does this quite regularly, because he somehow genuinely forgets which idioms belong to which language. It usually takes a minute of everyone staring at him in confused silence before he says “….Ah….. that must be a Russian one then….”

Had to count backwards for something. Could not count backwards in English. Counted backwards in French under her breath until she got to the number she needed, and then translated it into English.

Meant to inform her (French) parents that bread in America is baked with a lot of preservatives. Her brain was still halfway in English Mode so she used the word “préservatifes.” Ended up shocking her parents with the knowledge that apparently, bread in America is full of condoms.

Defined a slang term for me……. with another slang term. In the same language. Which I do not speak.

Was talking to both me and his mother in English when his mother had to revert to Russian to ask him a question about a word. He said “I don’t know” and turned to me and asked “Is there an English equivalent for Нумизматический?” and it took him a solid minute to realize there was no way I would be able to answer that. Meanwhile his mom quietly chuckled behind his back.

Said an expression in English but with Spanish grammar, which turned “How stressful!” into “What stressing!”