Good hearing is something we often take for granted. Unfortunately, by the time we recognise something is wrong, a lot of the damage may be completely irreversible.
This presents a pretty colossal challenge for companies like Cochlear, who deal out sweet hearing solutions for those who suffer from hearing loss. According to them, around 3.5 million Australians are living with some level of hearing loss, many of which have no idea.
So how the bloody heck do you get people who don’t know they have a problem to get tested?
Welp, you make a short film that has two different outcomes depending on your hearing ability.
Does Love Last Forever? tells the story of an Australian couple over the course of their 40-year relationship. It uses cheeky camera angles to mask the ability to lip read and the body language was deliberately choreographed to be perceived as negative.
This leaves it up to the dialogue to convey the nature of the couple’s relationship, but you’ll need healthy hearing to understand it. As the film progresses, so too does the level of ambient noise in scenes, making it increasingly difficult to zero in on what the characters are saying.
If you reckon their relationship remained fun and resilient, you’re hearing is alright. If you think they grew distant over the years, you might wanna get it checked out.
It’s an innovative way to draw attention to an issue that’s only going to get worse over time. All those club nights, festivals and maxed-out headphone volumes are gonna catch up to us sooner or later.
If you feel like taking your own hearing for a spin, you can suss the whole movie right here. It’s also screening before the movie Lion in cinemas, if you’re into the whole two birds, one stone thing.
Photo: Does Love Last Forever?
