breaknrunjr
Registered
I don’t disagree with you here Superstar. In fact, at the end of my post, I mentioned that whether or not earplugs or earphones actually cause disputes over hearing is an issue in itself. I did say that more disputes happen when people don’t hear calls, which I stand by because I have seen lots of arguments spawning from something not being heard (ex: telling someone they're on two fouls) but I didn’t necessarily call out earplugs as the cause; I'm just saying that when people really don't hear or recieve certain important messages, it's bad. If the tournament host believes that they do in fact cause hearing problems, they will ban them as an attempt to avoid these miscommunications. I can say that I too don’t see earplugs, or even earphones as a direct cause of disputes as long as you’re responsible about it (pay attention to the player at the table, don’t stare off into space, use common sense). I’ve never had an experience where a player (a knowledgeable player at least) has been completely shut out after putting in the buds or plugs.
However, I wouldn’t necessarily say that people who can’t hear well at all with ear plugs don’t exist (it’s not like I’ve met every pool player in the world). There might even be some people who can hear with them in, but will choose to dispute over hearing in an attempt to get out of a foul or to get ball in hand or something of that nature. It might be possible that some of these tournaments have seen these types of people and then decided to ban the use of ear plugs/earphones solely because of their experiences with those people. Of course, I’m only speculating here.
I think you and I can both agree that you have to be responsible when you play with earphones or earplugs, regardless of whether or not you can hear with them in. If you can be responsible playing with earplugs and earphones, you can go through a match with no disputes, so long as your opponent isn’t a really shady character. It could be that these people hosting tournaments don’t believe all players are capable of that level of responsibility and so they ban ear plugs for everyone eliminating the need to single out only those who don’t know how to use them properly.
You do make a very good point about the shortage of detailed experiences involving someone with earplugs or earphones not hearing something. I don’t think I’ve seen too many myself for that matter. That could be a fair indicator that perhaps this isn’t as big of a problem as some are making it out to be.
