After I had my olfactory test, all sense-tests look senseless to me. I went for my hearing test with my fingers crossed. A Japanese tester asked me about beeps. I had to show my right index finger if I heard a beep in my right ear and left index finger if I heard a beep in my left ear.
“Very good,” he said in his deep Japanese accent without smiling.
Then he came to words, asking me to repeat the words he said. I repeated what I heard because I was not sure what he said. With his Japanese accent, it was hard to understand what he was saying and it was hard to understand for him what I was repeating with my Pakistani accent. We were on different wavelengths. I repeated quite a lot of words wondering till the end whether I was doing all right. Anyway, it seemed to be my problem not his!
After the test, he looked very happy. Somebody had told me that Japanese try to look happy on sad occasions. My heart sank. He made three round circles on my form. I did not know what he was doing. Maybe, he was going to make happy or sad faces of those circles, I thought. He did not do any such thing. He asked me instead, “Are you a singer?”
I looked at him, he was smiling. I did not know what the question really meant. I did not want to commit either way, so I said timidly, “A bathroom one, if you like.”
He laughed heartily. I was sure that he definitely had a sad story to tell. I prepared myself for the worst, although I had never suspected anything wrong with my hearing. I should have known better, because I did not suspect anything wrong with my nose either. Maybe, my ears are so bad that when somebody speaks English, I think he is speaking Japanese. That did happen at the start of our meeting. It had taken me some time to realize that he was speaking English.
At last, he explained the significance of the three circles. The centre one was for the normal hearing, the lower circle was for poor hearing and the upper circle was for a very strong sense of hearing. I was fortunate that my results showed me there. He told me that my hearing was remarkable for my age. That was another composition of words I did not much appreciate.
He explained why he had thought I could be a singer. Singers usually have a very sharp sense of hearing. They need to hear all the nuances of the melodies, and I had those classy ears. I was not a singer, but I was flattered by the compliment.
I still think that he must have misheard some of the words I repeated and must have marked them right. Actually, after I my olfactory test, I’ve lost confidence in all my senses. But all’s well that ends well. I have somehow gained the confidence to sing now.
After I had my olfactory test, all sense-tests look senseless to me. I went for my hearing test with my fingers crossed. A Japanese tester asked me about beeps. I had to show my right index finger if I heard a beep in my right ear and left index finger if I heard a beep in my left ear.
