As a community, we tend to obsess over the latest and greatest gun, bullet, holster, or other item that we believe may give us some advantage. In the realm of personal defense, what gives us the best advantage is our ability to understand which threats are most likely to occur in our neighborhoods, workplaces, and lifestyles. Our ability to recognize a potential attack, how that attack develops, and how to respond appropriately, comes from training frequently and realistically. We take in most of the data from our environment visually, but our ability to detect and process sounds often proves to be more useful. I’m going to discuss that ability to discern sound, as well as the importance of protecting our physical ability to discern sound.
When in public, our ability to see can be diminished due to lack of lighting or obstructions in our viewing plane. This is where our auditory capabilities can help us detect and possibly avoid potential danger. Even when we have full visibility, at times our auditory capabilities may provide us with vital information that accompanies what we are seeing. The vocal inflection we hear from others helps us determine the importance of their words. For example, under certain circumstances, our ability to hear an unknown aggressive individual quickly inhale a large amount of air may be all we need to recognize a potentially violent attack. Similarly, the sound of someone walking in our home when we are alone provides us with information about how we may evade the danger, or if we can’t evade, what we can then do to make us safer. Additional examples abound.
by Ken Crawford
