Can someone who is severely deaf talk normally?

I was born deaf but had extensive speech therapy from an early age. I speak very well being understood is not an issue, but I have some degree of a deaf accent. Some people have no idea, others will ask me if I have a cold. I recently (within the last year) got a ci and that has helped me distinguish how words should be pronounced properly but my ability to hear my own voice isn't accurate. My boyfriend has a moderate to severe hearing loss and his voice is perfect. I catch him pronouncing a word improperly from time to time but his tone is normal.
 
I had a close friend when I was in middle school who told me she had 5% hearing in one ear. She had an accent, but I thought she spoke very well. I usually had no trouble understanding her, and there are many accents from hearing people whose native language isn't English that I'd say were way more difficult for me to learn than hers. Of course, some of that probably had to do with the fact that we would gab on the phone for HOURS on end! :)
 
:Werd:

I am profoundly deaf, and I do have an accent-- but people passed it off as a foreigner's accent after they learned that my mom is an European immigrant. I don't have extrusive speech therapy like many deaf people do.
I only received speech therapy in the ability to lip-read, that was it.

For many years, I *tried* to speak with "hearing accent" but people couldn't understand me and asked me to repeat until I lost my confidence. I was told that my hearing accent sounded like a high-pitched kid whispering.
So, recently my hearing friends and in-laws told me that I should just talk in my deaf accent even if it feels "horrible". The little kids understand me better by far because I don't feel embarassed to use my "deaf voice" on them. That was their evidence that I should just let it loose and don't care about people's judgments based on my vocal ability.

So far, people DO understand me better in my deaf accent. Just today, somebody mumbled something in the elevator but by her body language, I knew she was asking me for the floor. I spoke out "four" but I held up four fingers - JUST IN CASE- and she pressed the floor number without even looking at me or my fingers... I was impressed. Well maybe for you, "four" is an easy word, but it is a BIG deal for me!

I don't know if they do distinctly notice that I speak differently (or maybe I don't speak different than them!). I do have difficulties to prounounce some "big" words because I don't practice my speech with those words so I am restricted to simple words to be able to get my point across. "Can I borrow your... *pointing to the tool*?" or just "excuse me" and pointing to what i want. Simple as that.
I don't want to see somebody saying "What?" with that grimance look on their face ever again. Maybe it is not same for you but it wrenches me every time somebody looks at me like that.. as if something is WRONG with me for not able to say it.

My husband, on the other hand, is profoundly deaf and nobody suspects a thing that he is deaf. He grew up orally until age 13 although-- and his hearing aids helped his lip-reading ability to carry on a lively conversation with a hearing person, unaware about him being deaf. SO jealous of him. It was weird when I had to lipread him at a wedding when he gives a toast because nobody at the wedding knows that he is deaf. (they discovered this fact after they went to him after the toast to congraulate him on his speech... :giggle: I could tell you how shocked they look when they realized the best speech belonged to a deaf person!)

Deafness doesn't limit your speech ability-- the lack of speech therapy and irregular usage do lead to an inability to use your voice.

Same thing would apply to a hermit who hasn't used their voice for last five years.
 
5 people

i know 3 people who where born deaf....and speak more then 6 languages! each speak so well that my hearing pals thought the deaf ones could hear!!!!
it just took many years of speach therapy!!!
 
There is absolutely nothing wrong with a deaf person using their voice. Being asked if you "have a cold" is because you talk thru your nose, like other deafies. There is nothing to be ashamed of. It is a FACT.

"Deaf accent"?? Whoa! That is just a fancy way of saying that you speak like a deaf person. People try to wrap their deaf speech up in a pretty package and pass it off as an "accent". It is almost pitiful. Wake up and smell the skunk cabbage.

One day you will need to decide whether you accept being deaf or want to sound and act like a hearing person, whether it works or not.

CI or no CI, you are still "deaf".
 
i have severely deaf hearing.. and i can talk well.. but had alot of therpy through elementary school
 
Glad to hear things are going well for you. :)

gnarlydorkette said:
That was their evidence that I should just let it loose and don't care about people's judgments based on my vocal ability.

So far, people DO understand me better in my deaf accent. Just today, somebody mumbled something in the elevator but by her body language, I knew she was asking me for the floor. I spoke out "four" but I held up four fingers - JUST IN CASE- and she pressed the floor number without even looking at me or my fingers... I was impressed. Well maybe for you, "four" is an easy word, but it is a BIG deal for me!
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Even an "academic" article I read while doing research on personal communication credibility for school suggested that trying to force your accent too much can backfire. I can personally attest to it with Spanish...when I focus TOO much on having every little detail correct, all it does is make me self-conscious and making more mistakes than I would if I just let it out. This is something I still have trouble with. When it comes time to speak aloud in Spanish, I am just terrified and a lot of times I just chicken out and go back to English. It's like a phobia or something.

Same thing would apply to a hermit who hasn't used their voice for last five years.
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My new fact of the day. I hadn't considered the possibility of that happening.
 
I became Dhh at age 11, but still speak as well as I did then. People get confused about me being able to hear quite often. I have kept using my voice all of those years.
 
Well I think many of the folks who have normal voices, probaly have odd losses......also maybe they were products of REALLY REALLY good speech therapists like Helen Beebe or other speech therapists who are good and experianced in working with dhh kids. I only had a general speech therapist all through my years of speech therapy.
 
DUDE..of course a person can speak like any other normal hearing person..you see, i was born w/ a profound hearing loss and luckily, i was raised oral..and i was fortunate to have good speech and listening skills through tons of hours of speech therapy early on..the sooner you get fitted w/ hearing aids or a CI, you hear early because of the neuropathways that are develped as a young child..and your speech reflects your listening skills..whereas if you weren't aided w/ HA/CI sooner or if your first language was ASL, depending on how severe your loss is, the neuralpathways are delayed and you do not develop good speech or in other words, you may have a "deaf voice" or "deaf accent." so most people who didn't become deaf until later on, such as two/three yrs old, should have good speech because they were able to hear before they lost their hearing..get it?! so even today, when i am talking with someone, they would not have the slightest clue about my hearing loss..n they're even often surprised when i do tell them about my deafness..
 
I was born profoundly to severe deaf, and i speak pretty well, My parent raised me oral and sign english, so i had been able to speak since i was, i have no clue. Alot of people had said that i have good voice and MANY people, and i mean MANY, had claimed that i was hard of hearing, or can hear very well with my hearing aids cuz of my voice, i alway had to tell them, nooo i am deaf, I cannot hear a thing without my aid, and can hear noises with my aids that all, no words.

One time I went to a good friend of mine, more like a sister, anyway she used to be an interpreter, and was my teacher for a year or two, anyway she could never understand why i could speak so well,
one day i went to her house for a visit, and i was talking with my voice, and her husband heard me, later he asked her, so hmm is she hard of hearing (asking about me) She said nooo. well she is different, cuz according to earlier converstation, she was telling her husband that MOST people who are deaf usually don't talk very well, and talk with deaf voice, and hard of hearing tend to speak a bit better than deaf, so he was confused lol.

So the answer to your question is that There are alot of people who are profoundly to severe deaf and can speak pretty good.
 
depending on how severe your loss is, the neuralpathways are delayed and you do not develop good speech or in other words, you may have a "deaf voice" or "deaf accent."
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Nope....I only have a moderately severe loss, and I have a VERY "deaf" voice!
 
In fact, I actually think its hurting my ASL reception. Because she speaks as she signs I tend to rely on what she is saying rather than depending on reading signs.
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Cental ~
Someone needs to tell her to "ZIP " her lips and not using the voice. I am not sure what is your reason learning sign language. If becoming an interpreter, then you need to tell her directly! Maybe you should go to Bethel College in Indiana and take classes under Elizabeth Beldon. She is a professor ASL teacher. You WILL LOVE HER! Her son is one of my friend that I knew in the past. Good Luck! I am not saying you have to go, but it a good place to start.

Back to the subject ~
Speaking WELL and speaking NORMALLY are two different things. Deafies who think they speak normally are fooling themselves.
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I disagree. I was born hard of hearing and became fully deaf at age (I think) 21 or 22. I still have hearing people saying " I thought you are hearing" , " You talk so well that I didn’t realize you were deaf ", "Wow, I didn’t know that you can talk like that ( I would tell them not all deaf can talk like this), so forth. Several times I would be talking to them when I am asking them questions or talk about a subject and they would talk back to me as I would have to remind them to write it down or type (on computer) because they consider me as hearing. (I had to zip my lips and lock my voice so I do not have to keep on telling them repeatedly or go through that again).

I did took speech therapy when I was growing up (since 3). My mom forced me to go. I was mad at her for that, but now I am glad that she did.

There are times I do pronounce a word improperly. For example: Home Depot. I would say Home De pot ( like the potty training a child on a potty chair). My hearing friend would tell me that I said it wrong because the “t” is silent! Therefore, it should be Home De po. When I saw that on TV ~ I thought Home Depot. I don’t hear it, but I see the “T”. It funny to her though. She would ask me sometime to say it to cheer her up. :D
 
I was born profoundly deaf (can't hear nothing in both ears) Then got a CI on my right ear when I was 3 years old, started talking when I was 4 years old. Then when I was about 6 years old I was talking really good. Right now I'm 13 :P
When I first meet people, they don't even know I'm deaf. And never learned sign language..Dunno why. I go to a regular school, regular classroom. And get A's and B's. CI really helps alot. It's like I'm a hearing kid except I have some problems hearing in noisy places and can't hear in showers, pool, and beaches. So I recommend CI to ppl that are deaf and in the early years. Because it takes time to learn the sounds.
 
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It's like I'm a hearing kid except I have some problems hearing in noisy places and can't hear in showers, pool, and beaches
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That's good that the CI is so good for you. But not everyone responds as well....Maybe it might be a cool idear to learn ASL as a second language....Gally has a summer program for dhh kids who don't know sign, to become fluent in it. Sign is really helpful in filling in the cracks and, as a resource for difficult listening situtions!
 
Interesting thread...lots of valid points...

I'll add my two cents. I'm one of those severely deaf people from the beginning got fitted with a HA and tons and tons of speech therapy up through junior high. Always used speech as primary form of communication and never learned sign language. Fast forward to recent diagnosis of being legally deaf (my hearing started going downhill noticable in last ten years) and then had gotten a CI done in last six months.

Consequently, my speech wasn't quite as good prior to when my hearing started going but it never was deaf speech but rather I had a harder time pronouncing things. If you can't hear yourself, you can't speak as well... This feedback/loop system is why most HOH to essentially all deaf people have difficulty speaking as a normal hearing person. When I got my CI, my speech improved so dramatically that everybody noticed the different within a couple weeks. In other words, I could hear myself again.

My speech has always been very good and I never had anybody tell me that I sounded any different than those with normal hearing. Most people were surprised to know that I was HOH (if they found out...most didn't). From time to time I would get tripped up on pronunciation on some tongue twisters. I had to laugh at the comment somebody made earlier about saying "Home Depot" as I can attest to that faux pas every now and then. Anyway, I pass very easily as a normal hearing speaker with no one the wiser especially now I have my CI.

To answer the question that started the thread, yes there are some severely HOH folks that can speak like the normal hearing folks. I know as I'm one of them. The CI is just an added bonus for me as now I hear so much better.
 
Ya it would be fun learning it, But who will I sign too? lol. And I think CI would work for anybody who is willing to put it on everyday. I had this girl who went to my school before and she had CI but couldn't hear or talk well. Because she rarely puts it on. and I asked if I could wear it. And when I wore it, it sounded so loww. So when you get the map for your CI make sure to answer everthing truthfully and do everything good. Anyways gotta go..Byebye
 
Ya it would be fun learning it, But who will I sign too? lol.
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You can meet new dhh friends and sign to them.....I have hoh friends in Texas who ARE a part of the Deaf community.....I mean, yeah, Sign isn't used as frequently as Spanish, but it's useful and fun to use........and it's a great icebreaker tool to use in high school......Most kids with disabilties have horrible times in high school, but like every hearing person wants to learn sign.....I can't count how many get togethers at school, turned into an improptu ASL lesson...lots of fun!
 
I dont know about someone severely deaf but Ive been hh since a head injury a few years ago and there are certain things I guess I do "wrong" now when I speak like changing certain vowel sounds or strange infections. But my hearing loss is kinda weird - like if you chop off the entire lower range of sounds and then are left with just the upper half, that's kinda what mine's like. And I cant really hear myself talk.

So like if I'm talking to a woman (w/ a high voice) and a man (w/ a low voice) i can hear her just fine as long as she's facing me but the guy I can't. hehe that is strange to explain to people. Anyway back on topic this is an interesting thread!
 
sevendaisy, that's not so strange.......I can't hear male voices too well, but can hear female voices very well!
 
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