Can someone who is severely deaf talk normally?

Dakini said:
I lost my hearing at 10 months of age and am profoundly deaf. I've been speaking well all my life since I started oral education at the age of 18 months. I used to work in retail and provided a lot of customer service. I've had a lot of customers ask me "What country are you from?" This is because I sound like I have an accent. They do understand me, but I don't sound perfect like someone that just learnt English as a second language. This is what deaf speak sounds like. I think that the critical factor in being able to speak well as a deaf person is how soon one begins to learn how to speak and listen with hearing aids and how well the education is, how often they utilize that skill. I always had to speak in my family, social environment and at hearing school all throughout my child hood.

It also depends on how long the baby was exposed to sounds in the first few months. The first few months of a baby is crucial for neural development because that is when the brain is growing these neural pathways rapidly. That's why we expose babies to sounds, colors, touch, etc to encourage strong brain development. Then it slows down as we approach the toddler age. So that's why I had to start school right away as soon as they found out my deafness to take advantage of this stage. It made a huge difference in my ability to respond to sounds and speaking as well as possible.

I'm sure its different for someone that was born deaf and has never heard any sounds. Yes they can still learn to speak, however, the deaf accent might be a bit thicker. It would really depend on the person and their level of hearing loss, background in education and family environment.
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I was born with a bilateral severe profound deafness and about 95% of hearing people can understand me. When I was a child, people would ask me where I was from but now that I think about it, it has been at least 10 years since anyone has asked me that. Either my speech has improved or that comment goes in and out of my eyes.

Many people said that my speech has improved since learning ASL which I find odd but they are the ones who are hearing so I guess it must be true!
 
I'm pretty much like shel90. I was born profoundly deaf in both ears. I was implanteed at age 4, and in the 13 years since I've been told that I speak extremely well, occasinally better than my hearing classmates. However, people always ask me if I was from New York or something, apparently I have a " New Yawk" accent :giggle:
 
momentary said:
Hi ,I am in school and talking with my friends and they say that a deaf person cant talk normally,but I say they can if they became deaf when adult. Am I right or are my friends right ? Thankyou!!!!
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What does "normally" mean? If you can talk, it's normal for you. I lost my hearing as an adult. I guess I talk normally, but I think people from the south talk funny.
 
hi
am a late deafened adult. i lost my speech at 20 years of age and learned KSL and all. I am now a strong figure in the Deaf culture AND MY SPEECH IS STILL VERY NORMAL 5 years down the line. I sign well and speak normally. Sign with the Deaf and lip read and speak with the hearies.
I am profoundly deaf and not any HA can help me. A CI is beyond my reach.
The only thing that Deaf cant do is hear!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
hmmm

Angel said:
True, I have trouble pronouncing words too and I do get embarrassed when some hearing folks don't understand what I am saying or trying to say, sometimes they will make fun of me or make mocking gestures....sometimes I do feel like screaming at them since they do not know how difficult it can be, but I don't, I just wished more of these folks would be more understanding....

I have to ask someone for help on how to say words correctly which I don't hear them at all when I only can lip-read how it may sound like...
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Personally, I have never made fun of anyone's speech. It disgusts me thinking about anyone doing something so stupid like that to someone else. Why people don't have more tolerance for one another, I don't know.

The first oral deaf person I ever met was my adopted grandma's daughter. She sounded like she had a cold. She was grown up when I was little, and my grandma explained that she was deaf. My grandma was what I'd call "old school," so I don't think her daughter signed until later.

My parents were good teachers about respecting others and treating all people as I would like to be treated.

I learned Spanish in middle school, high school, and college, and some ASL in college 10 years ago, ASL 1 and 2, and a Deaf Culture class.

My sister studied Japanese. We had a lot of Japanese exchange students who lived in our home with us. Often they were terrified (kinda like me with my ASL skills) of making a mistake. We had to use the dictionary a lot and slow down, and repeat things, or explain it in simpler terms. We still get letters from some of our students years later, and my sister was invited to stay in Japan with one of the girls when she went to Japan as an exchange student herself.

I currently work in an office of a Japanese-owned company in the US. We have Vietnamese, Thai, Japanese, Spanish, and other foreign workers. No one makes fun of another's speech or accents.

I can't understand a few of the Vietnamese ladies, but I try to speak clear, repeat, and slow down, and I'm very patient. Many of them can't speak English well, and some not at all. There is one manager who can translate, though I only ask if neither party can understand the other at all.

I'm an Admin Assistant, so most people come to me with questions about things related to human resources because I'm the HR manager's assistant, as well as Accounting assistant.
 
Teresh said:
Thinking about it, though, it makes sense that people who are severely deaf (albeit not profoundly deaf) across the board would have a 'deaf voice' or 'deaf accent'. If you've ever listened to the sound output of some of these hearing aids, the amplification for some of the models sounds a lot like a 'deaf voice'... You can hear with great amplification... but the sounds you hear are what you emulate... and what you emulate is the amplified sounds, which are not normal sounds... so you end up sounding like the amplified sounds... which to a hearing person, is borderline bizarre.
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Hello,

I'm new here, and I had to register just to reply with surprise, anger, and trepidation.:eek2::barf::-o

OMG... Why would they do that?! Make hearing aids that have a deaf sound to them. No wonder I hear voices and I can mimic them, but I see now that it's not close to what I'm really hearing.

See, I'm one of those people, profoundly deaf, who managed to get through a 4-year deaf program in less than a year and a half and had to be mainstreamed ahead of time, because my speech during therapy was progressing so fast.

Having said that, I am upset that they made hearing aids knowing that they don't accurately reproduce the human voice. No wonder I get the funny looks at work from customers when I approach them for the first time. I mean, I know I have a deaf voice, that's a given. But to think that they made the hearing aids, tested them, and went, "Yep it's not perfect, but it's the closest we can get it," and sold them to us without telling us that not only does it limit the frequency range, but also colors how things really sound. I thought it was more a function of my inability to hear rather than my hearing aids. So my nerves are functioning right at higher SPL levels, just what I'm hearing is wrong? You mean if I could set up a "room" of amplifiers loud enough to bring the sound levels at any point in the room to over 135 dB, then I would be able to hear how it really sounds with what residual hearing I have? It would at least give me a more accurate "sound palate" than what the hearing aids can offer, since what everyone else seems to hear through the speakers is similar to what you would hear without the band playing with amplification?

However, I can hear the difference between a deaf person and a hearing person, but it seems now that even then, what I hear would be foreign to a hearing person testing these hearing aids.

Now, I'm hoping more than ever that stem cell therapy or something can be perfected to fix this.

In the meantime, are there hearing aids that have eliminated this "coloration" issue better than others? How do digital hearing aids compare with the analogs?

This really, really BUGS me, as I am a musician (drum set).

One thing I want to add is accents. I remember very clearly when I was at an estate sale many years ago in Dallas (I was at a sister's friend's estate sale, and I was talking with her friends before they realized that I was her sister). My sister told them about my deafness. They kept thinking I was from Australia or from South Africa. I've had customers at my store place me somewhere in Europe (couldn't pinpoint the "accent").

:confused:
Stephanie
 
KristinaB said:
I still have people who don't believe that I'm deaf since I talk so clearly. (44 years with some hearing). My biggest problem, is forgetting how some words are pronounced since I haven't heard them lately. I have half a mind to just stop speaking totally and maybe that will let people know that I can't hear. I keep a notebook and pen available wherever I go, but they refuse to use use it. They think I am giving up and should try harder. I am still learning ASL, but no one in the God-Forsaken town knows it, so I am at their mercy sometimes.:mad:
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Many hearing say I sound normal except when I attempt to pronounce words that I have no idea how to pronounce. I have the feeling my pitch is off on some constants because of the reactions I've gotten from some foreigners (usually of Asian origin; many native languages in Asia is pitch dependant.).
 
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deafdrummer said:
Hello,

I'm new here, and I had to register just to reply with surprise, anger, and trepidation.:eek2::barf::-o

OMG... Why would they do that?! Make hearing aids that have a deaf sound to them. No wonder I hear voices and I can mimic them, but I see now that it's not close to what I'm really hearing.

See, I'm one of those people, profoundly deaf, who managed to get through a 4-year deaf program in less than a year and a half and had to be mainstreamed ahead of time, because my speech during therapy was progressing so fast.

Having said that, I am upset that they made hearing aids knowing that they don't accurately reproduce the human voice. No wonder I get the funny looks at work from customers when I approach them for the first time. I mean, I know I have a deaf voice, that's a given. But to think that they made the hearing aids, tested them, and went, "Yep it's not perfect, but it's the closest we can get it," and sold them to us without telling us that not only does it limit the frequency range, but also colors how things really sound. I thought it was more a function of my inability to hear rather than my hearing aids. So my nerves are functioning right at higher SPL levels, just what I'm hearing is wrong? You mean if I could set up a "room" of amplifiers loud enough to bring the sound levels at any point in the room to over 135 dB, then I would be able to hear how it really sounds with what residual hearing I have? It would at least give me a more accurate "sound palate" than what the hearing aids can offer, since what everyone else seems to hear through the speakers is similar to what you would hear without the band playing with amplification?

However, I can hear the difference between a deaf person and a hearing person, but it seems now that even then, what I hear would be foreign to a hearing person testing these hearing aids.

Now, I'm hoping more than ever that stem cell therapy or something can be perfected to fix this.

In the meantime, are there hearing aids that have eliminated this "coloration" issue better than others? How do digital hearing aids compare with the analogs?

This really, really BUGS me, as I am a musician (drum set).

One thing I want to add is accents. I remember very clearly when I was at an estate sale many years ago in Dallas (I was at a sister's friend's estate sale, and I was talking with her friends before they realized that I was her sister). My sister told them about my deafness. They kept thinking I was from Australia or from South Africa. I've had customers at my store place me somewhere in Europe (couldn't pinpoint the "accent").

:confused:
Stephanie
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It has nothing to do with the hearing aid but with your auditory nerve. :crazy:

Not a cause for outrage.
 
People have told me I don't have a southern accent when I talk, I sound more Northern. Some have even accused me of being a move-in from the North rather than born an raised here all me life.
 
I dont know if I talk "normally" but I am not bothered, I'm proud to be deaf and shouldnt feel embarassed for something that is not my fault!!
 
There are different ways a dhh/hoh can sound. I am HOH and most people dont realize it unless they know what they are listening too, they just think I talk loud. My 7 year old son who is HOH with no upper range and some lower range sounds slurred but a normal voice and then my 3 year old son who is deaf is almost impossible to understand again has a normal voice. I don't know what a deaf voice is but depending on what kind of hearing impairment you have and the severity of it will depend on what you sound like for your speech (this is without any speech therapy). If you get a good therapist who teaches you to speak using tools for a DHH/HOH you can sound normal, but if the therapist uses tools for correcting a speech impediment then not so much. It also takes very patient family and friends for this to happen too. I grew up in a house where my brother and I had to be perfect so I couldn't talk "oddly" as my mother put it. I am VERY good at blending in with the hearing.
 
I'm severely deaf and I talk normally, it's my main way of communication, which at the same time sucks because I wish I was more fluent in sign language or something because hearing people aren't exactly..patient and understanding with me and I usually get the comment of "you don't look deaf" or "because of your speech I didn't think you were" which bugs me, and I don't understand how someone could "look" deaf :\ I had my hearing until I was 14 though so I'm not sure if the same applies to people who were born deaf or HOH. And when I first became deaf the doctors wrongly diagnosed me and I didn't find out about my hearing loss until I was 16 but during that time people at school said I had a lisp lol probably because without hearing aids I could barely hear anything
 
angelstar819 said:
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..
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isaydude.jpg

:P
 
I think most deaf people certainly have the required equipment to speak normally,
but since you repeat what you hear, in most cases it's impossible for them to "speak normally" because of that.

However, if a deaf person undergo a speech therapy, then it is possible to learn to speak even very well.

This however depends on many things- how much hearing is left, how fast the deaf person "catches up" (some people have trouble to figure out how to pronounce certain vowels and consonants more than others)
and finally how determined on learning the person is.

Fuzzy
 
I really hate the word "normally" here. I mean what is "normally"? Hearing people all talk differently from one another too, I have trouble understanding any one with a heavy accent (even British folks sometimes, depending where they're from). A Deaf friend of mine asked me over the summer what "deaf accents" sound like, and I didn't even know how to describe it honestly. Each Deaf person sounds different to me.
 
Audiofuzzy said:
I think most deaf people certainly have the required equipment to speak normally,
but since you repeat what you hear, in most cases it's impossible for them to "speak normally" because of that.

However, if a deaf person undergo a speech therapy, then it is possible to learn to speak even very well.

This however depends on many things- how much hearing is left, how fast the deaf person "catches up" (some people have trouble to figure out how to pronounce certain vowels and consonants more than others)
and finally how determined on learning the person is.

Fuzzy
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I am glad you said "possible" because that is very important for people out there to keep in mind. My brother had it for 5 years...still doesnt have any speech skills.
 
I was told if I had speech lessons long enough when I was younger I would have had 'normal' speech. I have severe hearing loss.
 
What does it matter, anyhow? To please the hearies?
 
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