The medium is the message or is the message in the medium?

Our conversation was interrupted with a woman shouting at her husband, 'I told you that you had selective deafness, you only hear what you want to and when you want to'. The innocent remark was bellowed across the hospital restaurant as I sat discussing practice issues with four perioperative colleagues. Interestingly, the message immediately changed our discussion to story telling about how some of us have found communicating with deaf patients challenging.