Kevin's Watch

Something that struck me some years ago was the realization that humans cannot close their ears. With the exception of your nose (you can choose not to breathe through your nose) every other natural orifice of your body is able to be closed or squeezed shut. Why not your ears? More specifically why can't you choose to NOT hear something, naturally. If you wish to not SEE something it's a simple matter of shutting your eyes. The eyes themselves continue to see but because of the proximity of your eye lids to the cornea you are effectively blind (sans the perception of a bright light through the skin of your eye lid). Your ears have no such protection. Unless you place your hands over your ears you are helpless to prevent the reception of sound. This sucks. Consider all of the times you wished you could have chosen to not hear something and could have temporarily removed that perception as easily as closing your eyes.

I think Human 2.0 ought to have a few "refinements" and "earlids" should be top of the list.

Hear hear! ( )

in the meantime though, here's a pic of my earlids....

i don't know WHAT yer on about tom. i know MANY MANY people who seem to be able to close their ears JUST FINE.

we refer to it as selective hearing, this ability to hear what they want to hear or not hear something at all if they want to.

Lucimay wrote:i don't know WHAT yer on about tom. i know MANY MANY people who seem to be able to close their ears JUST FINE.

we refer to it as selective hearing, this ability to hear what they want to hear or not hear something at all if they want to.

Okay Luci. Being a husband I am aware of the phenomenon you are referencing and I, like many of my kind, have been accused of "selective hearing" HOWEVER truth be told there should be a distinction drawn between not hearing something and not paying attention to something. In all cases the hearing part is uninterrupted. (Bill Cosby does a great routine based on selective hearing BTW).

What I wish is to be able to completely block the reception of sound at will. Imagine the tranquility of creating a sightless, soundless condition any time you wish. The ensuing peace generated would be priceless.

We don't have eyelids so that we can stop seeing.
We have eyelids so that we can keep seeing.

... that is, they protect our eyes. Our eyes have to be out there in order to work. So they need protection.

Not so our ears. They need to be deep inside to work. So they don't need further protection.

I think there's a life lesson here somewhere.

wayfriend wrote:We don't have eyelids so that we can stop seeing.
We have eyelids so that we can keep seeing.

... that is, they protect our eyes. Our eyes have to be out there in order to work. So they need protection.

Not so our ears. They need to be deep inside to work. So they don't need further protection.

I think there's a life lesson here somewhere.

Well I think there should be a distinction between purpose and usage. I use my eyelids to prevent viewing things repeatedly. Ask any squeamish audience member, that has gone to a scary movie, whether they cared if their eyelids were originally intended to be used for protection. Whether the ability to shield our eyes from unpleasantness is only a by product of their existence or not, being able to do likewise with our ears would be a welcome ability indeed. IMHO of course.

Ah, but the wise ones tell you to Open Your Eyes. Accept what is before you, don't reject it, don't remove it from your sight.

wayfriend wrote:Ah, but the wise ones tell you to Open Your Eyes. Accept what is before you, don't reject it, don't remove it from your sight.

Such wisdom should be cherished and passed on to others...except for one undeniable truth...ignorance is bliss.

Now if we can't shield our ears from hearing how about a self induced memory purge. Sure you'd hear or see something awful but you could easily remove the event from your memory.

No longer would it be true..."You watched it, you can't un watch it!"

wayfriend wrote:We don't have eyelids so that we can stop seeing.
We have eyelids so that we can keep seeing.

... that is, they protect our eyes. Our eyes have to be out there in order to work. So they need protection.

Not so our ears. They need to be deep inside to work. So they don't need further protection.

I think there's a life lesson here somewhere.

excellent point! what is the lesson. i'm a bit thick.

Lucimay wrote:excellent point! what is the lesson. i'm a bit thick.

Keep Your Eyes Open, if course.

wayfriend wrote:

Lucimay wrote:excellent point! what is the lesson. i'm a bit thick.

Keep Your Eyes Open, if course.

OH! along with your "open" ears! got it. tanks!
<-----takes lessons anywhere she can get them!

..I would prefer to have Nasal Lids,,,come to think of it,,if every one had nasal lids..we'd put he deordorant business out of busines,,,better yet,, Nasal Lids AND Ear Lids..no more embarrassing moments in the elevator...or my cubicle at work..Just when ya think the coast is clear...

aTOMiC wrote:one undeniable truth...ignorance is bliss.

I (very respectfully) disagree with this. I may think it blissful to be ignorant of my many faults but would not wish to be ignorant of my wife's many wonderful qualities. Furthermore, if I wanted to improve on my many faults it actually wouldn't be blissful to be ignorant of those either. Personally I would prefer to see things how they are (even if in self-examination I had to occasionally wince and turn away briefly, LOL).

Good fun thread. Way to think outside the box, aTOMic!

Ear flaps would put the anti-snoring industry out of business

Vain wrote:Ear flaps would put the anti-snoring industry out of business

Amen, brother!

It seems to me like not being able to close your ears a human's final line of defense. When you sleep your eye's are closed, and your upper brain isn't paying attention. But the ears are always listening.

Probably developed to ward off attackts from mastodons or something.

I think you're probably right, Balon. Damn that evolutionary bidness anyhow....

My mother swore that my brother could, in fact, close his ears. She said he could move that little flap of cartilage over his earhole. I've never asked him whether it's true (he probably wouldn't hear me anyhow ).

aliantha wrote:My mother swore that my brother could, in fact, close his ears. She said he could move that little flap of cartilage over his earhole. I've never asked him whether it's true (he probably wouldn't hear me anyhow ).

no kidding!

Stonemaybe wrote:Hear hear! ( )

I believe our ears do filter out a lot of sound anyway. My physics teacher at college said our ears are sensitive enough that they can detect the tiny changes in air pressure when we move our heads, so really we should be hearing a sharp bang every time we move - but it gets filtered out. Come to think of it, I think it's the brain that does that, so maybe the answer isn't to close your ears, but to train your brain...