Can you hear me now?

I was always taught that the ears were in charge of the "hearing" a person does. Turns out that is not entirely accurate. I once saw a Rose is Rose comic strip that summed it up quite well. One of the little boys was telling the mother that people actually hear with their eyes. She was correcting him, reminding him that we use our ears to hear. He held her face between his hands, looked her straight in the eye and asked, "Now, don't you hear me better like this?" And she had to agree. And so do I, because that is the only way I can get my kids to hear a word I say! I thought about getting their hearing checked, but these same children can hear ice cream being scooped at a thousand paces, so it must be selective. There is something about the specific pitch of my voice that does not register in their ear drums, so clearly reading lips is the only way I can communicate with them. Well, that and turning off the TV. They hear that message loud and clear!