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February 23, 2012
Neighbours complain deaf couple is too loud
Published: 30 Nov 11 11:27 CET
Online: http://www.thelocal.de/society/20111130-39205.html
A deaf couple have decided to move out of their apartment in the western German state of North Rhine-Westphalia after neighbours complained they were just too loud.
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They also enjoy music by turning songs up full blast in order to feel the vibrations in the walls and floor.
But all the noise has annoyed neighbours, according to the Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung (WAZ).
“They’re too loud. The other renters have constantly complained,” their landlord Achim Hengesbach told the WAZ.
When the couple found out about the complaints, they were so upset that they decided to leave their apartment and set up a tent at a local park.
City officials who found them there felt bad about their situation and moved them to a hotel while the couple searched for, and eventually found, a new place to live, the WAZ reported.
Now there are a few nights to go at their old apartment. They’re spending it watching TV and sleeping on an old mattress in a bare room. But they’re not turning up the music in celebration.
And though a bit embarrassed, they don’t seem to bear any ill will toward others for all they’ve been through.
“Love. Luck,” wrote Neitzel when asked by the WAZ what they hope to achieve in their new accommodation, without saying whether they’ll be playing music there.
The Local/mdm
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Your comments about this article:
That's the way it works in Canada among most of the Physically Disabled Community, especially in Ontario where the most Anti-Social people live. This is why Europe has to be careful of Canadian influences and values. They will turn Europe into a gutter snipe region.
I agree with ron1amr. Why not just speak/write to them before complaining to the Landlord?
Don't forget that if they are deaf from birth, they may not be knowing what is loudness and how it feels in another persons ear. How fast some people jump to conclutions
Sure, they are unable to comprehend - through no fault of their own - what it's like to live on the other side of the wall of 120dB (C weighted). However I'm pretty sure if they really wanted, a strobe light in their bedroom would be the visual equivalent.
1) Compromise: Agree with neighbours when it's a suitable time to listen or in this case 'feel' music. Alternatively, go out to a concert or club and hang out in front of the subs.
2) Provide them with a dB meter, explain that certain numbers are 'ok' and others are 'not ok'
3) Don't hide from problems by moving out and transferring said problems to a new bunch of neighbours.
"Don't forget that if they are deaf from birth, they may not be knowing what is loudness"
The article said they were deaf, not stupid!
@rfwilson
NO one disputes their intelligence, but smart or not they have no frame of reference. Imagine you were born blind. Exactly how would you know anything about the color blue? The comments about their lack of knowledge are absolutely correct.
wa
Try to describe light to a blind person? It is not a seeing experience, although if it is light source which gives out heat, the blind person could describe it as a physical experience only and could not likely correlate that having a 100 watt bulb on 24 hours a day every day could disturb a partner or roommate from being able to sleep.
I agree with Wood Artist, some commenters needs to expand their perceptions a little farther, but then sometimes when one has all their faculties more or less intact and working, this obviously creates a barrier to cognitively understanding others without. This is how casual, unintentional discrimination happens every day,
units are sound proof because the patients scream in pain...there are
hospitals that specialize in burn treatment...apartments need to have
units for deaf to enjoy music.brain waves need to hear sound.