people will ignore a conversation in the next room until it drops into a whisper

How true, Wordwind, but sometimes you have to turn up the volume to be heard, as this story illustrates:

Two young boys were spending the night at their grandparents. At bedtime, the two boys knelt beside their beds to say their prayers when the youngest one began praying at the top of his lungs, "I PRAY FOR A NEW BICYCLE. I PRAY FOR A NEW NINTENDO. I PRAY FOR A NEW VCR..."

His older brother leaned over and nudged the younger brother and said, "Why are you shouting your prayers? God isn't deaf."

To which the little brother replied, "No, but Gramma is!"

BTW I wonder how many people who enjoy "Karaoke" know that it is a Japanese word meaning "tone deaf".