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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link="#0563C1" vlink="#954F72"><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal>Hearing voices<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Marcia J. Wick, The Write Sisters<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>September 2019<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Word Count: 321<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>At 5:30 a.m., my alarm speaks, “Feed the dog.” My mobile phone then announces, “The high temperature for the day will be in the 80s.” Siri, the lady trapped inside my smart phone, speed reads my email and internet searches effortlessly. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal> It’s not that I’m losing my mind, hearing voices when I’m home alone. I depend upon audible technology to compensate for my progressive loss of vision. As a person who is blind in the 21<sup>st</sup> century, I am grateful for audible technology. It’s as if I’m never alone. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Michael lives in my laptop. He speaks through my screen reader. He doesn’t judge my writing; he reads to me without intonation or emotion. When I dictate text messages, I have programmed a delightful English gentleman to read them back to me. Somehow, my words seem more clever and whimsical when echoed in his lilting accent. My smarter-than-me phone, on the other hand, sometimes makes me feel inept. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>“I’m sorry, you’re daughter isn’t in your contact list,” Siri claims. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>“She is, too,” I retort. Sometimes, I call Siri the “B” word when she pisses me off like that.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>My talking book player also reads aloud to me. I can adjust the tone of the narrator’s voice up or sound so that a man sounds like a woman; I can adjust the speed so that a woman sounds like a chipmunk. Either way, I can insure that they stop reading aloud in 15 or 30 minutes according to the time I set on the audible sleep button. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>It used to be that only human voices from the television or radio filled the air in my home. Now I rely on talking microwaves and coffee makers, talking Calculators, thermometers, and clocks.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Voices via YouTube, podcasts, webinars, Netflix, mp3 files, eBooks, and conference calls add to the cacophony.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>“OK, Google,” I command. Turn it off! Let me remember the beautiful sound of peace and quiet.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal># # #<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></body></html>