indexed

You know how crotchety curmudgeons can be! That function definitely should definitely be concave. One nagging woman and the curmudgeons stop listening in droves.

Nevertheless, well done once again. :D

i yearn for the day when i'm old enough to implement this strategy. age has its virtues.

leonard klaatu,

I once saw Timothy Leary speak, and he said "senility is wasted on old people."

I am absolutely positive that my Grandpa turns down his hearing aid so he doesn't have to listen to my Grandma. Or pretends to, at least. He can hear me perfectly fine, but when she tells him to set the table, he's blissfully hard of hearing.

My father has long had "selective hearing."
Of course, teenagers also have selective hearing, but they can't blame it on actual medical issues.

For a little gender reversal, my father is an endless prattler. It's all somatic complaints - yawn, politics - yawn, sex, drugs, rock and roll (he's a boomer) - yawn...all day long. Blessedly, my step-mother is hard of hearing, and since I live in a different state, when he calls, I can turn down the volume on the phone, surf the net, and mutter uh huh periodically. The system works.

About 6 months ago I heard an item on the radio about a couple in their 90s who had been happily married for 80 years. The husband attributed this success to the two words "Yes dear..."

With a bit of practice, I've found it's entirely possible to tune out somebody else's voice and become totally unaware that they're even still talking to you - no deafness required. (It's a skill I first developed at the age of 8, upon realising my new primary school teacher was a complete idiot.)