{"id":1262,"date":"2019-01-13T02:36:47","date_gmt":"2019-01-13T04:36:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/atomic-temporary-154474987.wpcomstaging.com\/?p=1262"},"modified":"2025-12-23T18:51:56","modified_gmt":"2025-12-23T21:51:56","slug":"rebellious-hostage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/geovanesou.com\/en\/refem-rebelde\/","title":{"rendered":"Rebel Hostage"},"content":{"rendered":"

A little over a month ago I went through the misfortune of a major deterioration in my hearing<\/a> And this made me even more dependent on my hearing aids, particularly for making phone calls and accessing voicemails, which are quite common in apps like Messenger and WhatsApp.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before that, my hearing loss was classified as only "moderate," and I confess that I didn't know how "good" that was, despite being bad: sometimes I could even afford to do activities without using hearing aids, because the sensation was (only) that of having a pillow around my head, and even with muffled sounds and incomprehensible voices, the sounds of the environment were distinct\u2026 especially and pleasantly, music.
Now, even with great effort, I can't hear my own voice, breathing, or pulse, let alone most of the sounds in the environment!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

THE DELIGHTS OF HEARING TECHNOLOGY
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This text should be considered the official sequel to the episode narrated in \u201cProvidence 2<\/a>\u201d"And yes, I went to work as Assistant Manager of Event Services at the Rio 2016 Olympic Committee: faced with the responsibility, I unearthed my (practically useless) Rexton Cobalt+ to avoid being a completely alienated deaf person, but the hearing aids had been stored and deactivated for so long that in less than a month of use they started to malfunction, making short-circuit noises... sometimes they even stopped working without warning!"<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since that job was paying quite well\u2014money is a serious matter\u2014and my role in the games required thorough advance planning of operations and human resources, it would have been impossible to consider taking time off to resolve this: I had great difficulty accessing the speech therapist I had acquired the services from, both because of her schedule and the locations where she worked, not to mention the strong suspicion that she was treating me unwillingly\u2026 so I decided it was time to seek assistance elsewhere, with someone else. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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LOOK AT THE DEVICE OVER THERE, ON TOP OF THE CELL PHONE!<\/em><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

By the grace of God and the efficiency of Google's search mechanisms, I ended up, among the options researched, contacting Diogo Fleming, from CADI<\/a>, which, due to its relative proximity to my workplace, seemed to be the best option for carrying out anything related to prosthetics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, however liberal the Committee's work-by-objectives policy might intend to sound, one thing I will highlight in a future text is the uncomfortable perception people have of when we need to be absent from work to resolve issues during "working hours," for whatever reason, no matter how well you master your tasks... and on that afternoon in May, before leaving the MPC<\/a>, I took care to print all the reports in advance and hand them to my manager in a folder\u2026 and even that didn't stop my boss, already some distance away and about to go down the escalator, from yelling for the whole floor to hear: \u201cCome back soon!\u201d, as if I were leaving for a movie or some other kind of recreational activity.
Being deaf isn't exactly an advantage, but at least I could pretend I didn't hear anything and keep walking as if I hadn't heard it.
Only now, in my old age, am I learning to deal with this strong feeling of anticipatory guilt: I spent the whole journey feeling the weight of acting as if I were stealing something from someone\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Upon arriving at the doctor's office and presenting my problem, I was immediately "broken" when, with a smile, Dr. Diogo informed me that the device would have to be sent to S\u00e3o Paulo for repairs, and that left me stunned: how would I interact at work during that period? Would this mean the end of my Olympic activities?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While I was suffering in anticipation of these additional issues, the doctor looked seriously at the very recent audiometry test I had done during the admission process and, before I could formulate any questions, simply said that while the prosthesis was being serviced he would\u2026 lend me another one that was worth \u201conly\u201d at least THREE TIMES MORE than the defective one!!!
Then I panicked: what if this treasure jewel causes some kind of problem? What if there's a robbery when I pass through Cidade de Deus? What if my corrosive sweat destroys these pearls\u2026 how will I be able to pay for this if I just started a job precisely with the intention of paying off a heavy debt I incurred when acquiring the previous one?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After struggling for a few moments against this intense storm of questions, the first question I managed to formulate was: and when do I come to borrow this device?
It can be now!
I can imagine the wide-eyed look I must have given him, but if I did, at least I didn't scare the doctor, who promptly started taking the little boxes to open them, extracting the brand-new hearing aids, connecting them to the computer via some special cables (which I, also an IT technician, had never seen before), programming my audiometry in specialized software, carefully placing the devices in my ears and, with everything in position, began asking questions about the quality of my hearing through these new hearing aids: Is it metallic? Is there too much noise? Is there feedback? And this other way\u2026 is it better?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"I<\/a>

He was the kind of annoying person who remembered the date and time of everything!<\/em><\/strong>
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Almost an hour after my arrival, I left there completely dazed, using a Rexton Emerald S40 fully adjusted to my disability and, operating on autopilot, I drove back to work: only after passing Cidade de Deus, still under the Linha Amarela overpass, did I notice a high-pitched, repetitive noise\u2026 tic, tic, tic\u2026
It was the car's turn signal!
After two years without hearing it, I suddenly realized how deaf and neglected I had truly been all this time\u2026 and tears began to roll down my face, returning against my will with each nuanced sound I recognized again, with each new-old noise I perceived\u2026 how good it was to hear again!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Almost an hour after my arrival, I left there completely dazed, using a Rexton Emerald S40 fully adjusted to my disability and, operating on autopilot, I drove back to work: only after passing Cidade de Deus, still under the Linha Amarela overpass, did I notice a high-pitched, repetitive noise\u2026 tic, tic, tic\u2026
It was the car's turn signal!
After two years without hearing it, I suddenly realized how deaf and neglected I had truly been all this time\u2026 and tears began to roll down my face, returning against my will with each nuanced sound I recognized again, with each new-old noise I perceived\u2026 how good it was to hear again!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On that day, May 19, 2016, full of adventures and emotions, I also arrived at two conclusions<\/strong>:
1. My first speech therapist was a mercenary pirate, only interested in pushing an extremely expensive product that she never even adjusted, which is why I heard so poorly and, discouraged, I didn't even use the hearing aid: because of people like that, anyone's health can get worse!
2. The leader's role is, indeed, to be obstacle<\/a> to subordinates, and consequently, the role of subordinates, the good ones at least, is to overcome such challenges with as much grace as possible: I had barely entered the office when my manager approached with an expression of agony and urgency, questioning some crucial information that I should have provided so that he could present it at a meeting with other, even higher-ranking managers who were all around his desk, looking at me with a condemning expression\u2026
Smiling (yes, a smile of the most caustic acidity), I walked to his desk, searched for the folder I had so carefully handed him before leaving (and which was now buried under sketches of the facilities), put on a serious face as I looked inside (what a damn actor I am sometimes: I really wanted them to think I failed!), and suddenly pulled out two sheets of paper and\u2014 voil\u00e0<\/em>! \u2014 it was precisely the updated lists they wanted me to have not prepared so they could plead my incompetence!
It wasn't magic or technology: it was a bit of inattention on his part and, without being immodest, my own competence. (In a future post I'll reveal that all of this was orchestrated by someone simply bothered by my existence\u2026)<\/em>
I am already deaf and therefore likely to miss some details explained orally, which is why, as a leader, I always pay close attention to subordinates who report back after completing their assigned tasks: first, to verify if it was indeed performed satisfactorily (and, if not, what the reason was; always taking the appropriate steps) and second, to ensure that part is fully integrated into the whole!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Does the honeymoon end so quickly?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The old device did come back from repair, but besides not covering the same sound range as the new one, it soon began to make strange noises and malfunction for no apparent reason: it was a prosthesis that was used very little, but even so, it began to "die" approximately two years after being unpacked... and at that point I wasn't even considering the issue of... planned obsolescence<\/a>I did everything I could, learned about the Banco do Brasil's accessibility loan, and met all the requirements to get it, with interest rates well below market rates, and pay off the cost of almost 10,000 reais in 60 installments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By a twist of fate, I agreed to buy an S60 for two hundred reais more instead of an S40, but at the time of purchase the manufacturer only had S80 devices available, and in the end, that's what I ended up with. And, in an extremely generous promotion, I also got a powerful accessory called "Smart Connect," which uses Bluetooth audio technology to, among other things, enable access to media and phone calls without even needing to handle the cell phone.
I used to call it a "magic necklace" because it also allowed me to adjust the volume and change the usage profile \u2014 automatic, noisy environments, music\u2026 \u2014 just by touching its buttons, and when paired with my cell phone, it even had the power to check the battery charge and provide more appropriate sound direction depending on the situation, such as an important conversation in the middle of a noisy environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Working, with new equipment and accessories\u2026 everything perfect?
Almost: despite the winter being quite pleasant, some activities like test events and meetings sometimes required us to walk long distances\u2026 how about walking from the MPC to simulate public access to the Maria Lenk Park?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Finally, those were intense and unforgettable days preparing for the world's biggest sporting event (and I will certainly post more about what I experienced and learned), but they were also days of a lot, a lot of sweat that seeped into my "magic necklace," corroded its circuits, and made its functioning intermittent until the day it finally failed during the Paralympic Games.
Once again, because it was under warranty, my dear speech therapists quickly arranged for a replacement and determined that this technological marvel should always be worn over any clothing I was wearing\u2026 never underneath!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I ended 2016 in debt until 2021, but at least I was hearing better than in recent years. In 2017, I made an effort to have my hearing aids serviced every quarter, yet my corrosive sweat still managed to wear down something inside them, and to prevent it from getting worse, I ended up investing in a dehumidifier. But in 2018, just two years after such an expensive purchase and already out of warranty, none of my efforts prepared me for the catastrophic sequence of events that followed\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even wearing the Smart Connect over my clothes and far from my body, exposure to the environment and even carrying my 1-year-old son in my arms caused wear and tear that began to fracture the so-called "induction cable": first, the outer covers protecting its plugs cracked and then turned to dust. Soon after, the internal metal structure decided to reveal itself at that fateful junction point and, shortly afterwards, the contact between it and the plug broke, causing the device to flash orange and unable to connect to the prostheses, leaving me completely without access to the phone calls and media that had been common for me in the last two years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oh, but it's just a little cable\u2026<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

That's what I thought, and I immediately started searching for a replacement, and, shockingly, there's not even a reference to such an item anywhere in this marketplace (which I thought had everything) called the internet: not Mercado Livre, not eBay\u2026 only the complete product appears in searches, and if I got the first one as a freebie, the price of a replacement is absolutely terrifying!
I tried to get this replacement part through my speech therapist, but he couldn't find it either.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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