To protect his hearing, Jacobs began wearing over-the-ear noise-canceling headphones 鈥 at first only every so often, but Jacobs says he began to sport them more and more and in locations from the workplace to the carpool. "I tend to miss a word here or there, like a bad Skype connection to Ecuador," he writes of wearing the headphones. "I'm usually able to cover it up with nods and smiles. Never underestimate the power of the nod and smile."
