I think I've had this same guy near the same area. I thought initially he was doing it to avoid conversation with passengers and to hopefully over hear some juicy valley gossip.
Or he was just deaf.
Or he was just deaf.
The user said " I thought initially he was doing it to avoid conversation with passengers and to hopefully over hear some juicy valley gossip. "
"it" refers to "being deaf."
It's so great to be able to put an "official" term to something you know but can't associate with a title!