Yeah that was actually one of the better ones. He was doing really well in the beginning, and even the parts where she couldn’t manage to cut him off, he still stopped not long after she started. Nothing like the one mentioned here or some of the others I’ve seen.
But you’ll notice he did actually put a hand up to adjust the earpiece in this one.
Like I said though, I think it’s more of a physiological issue. He probably has a hearing impediment that limits his ability to hear when he’s talking. I’m not sure of the sound quality of those earpieces, but I imagine it doesn’t take much of a hearing condition to cause that kind of problem. The piece is only in one ear, and when you’re in these interviews, that’s the only connection you have with the main news desk…you’re just staring into a camera lens. It’s not like you have a monitor that allows you to see them at all.
I know a number of guys Peter’s age who have varying degrees of hearing loss, and one of the things some of them report being told by their doctors is that they have a constant buzz in their ear that they don’t really notice…it’s like a very slight static. And it basically prevents you from hearing sounds that fall within that frequency. I wouldn’t be surprised if Peter has a similar issue which is affected by his own speech…like the vibrations in your own head that occur when you talk affect him more than a normal person.