It's All Gone Pete Tong?!

C

Cessna

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Stay with me here. I know this is a movie reference on a deaf message board but after watching this movie it left me with alot of questions. The movie is about a DJ who loses his hearing due to constant loud club music and NO protection for his ears. He is also a hardcore cocaine user and drinker. That being said in the movie he loses his hearing ends up freaking out and losing his mind. He visits a woman who teaches him to read lips and such...It's a very good movie in my opinion but some may consider it a bit over the top.

My question is this. In the movie his character still talks and has no apparent speach impediment. While the teacher he visits (who is also deaf) can speak but has an obvious speech impediment. Can someone please explain to me if this is true of deaf people or is it a stereotypical issue? I have never known anyone deaf so I have no frame of reference. So anything in this question that may be offensive...please I mean no offense...it would only come out of ignorance on the issue.

Thanks,

~C
 
I don't know the statistics, but I would assume that could happen. Most deaf people who have speech impediments have that as a result of not hearing certain sounds and letters to form words and letters correctly. While this would normally not be an issue for a later-deafened person, if that person loses their hearing after learning how to speak, no longer hearing those sounds may make that person forget how some of those sounds are formed. Not right away, but perhaps over time. I would imagine it would not be the same type of speech impediment, though. I'm sure other late-deafened people who read this forum could answer this better. But one note - do you know for sure from the movie that the character who had no speech impediment was a later-deafened person? Because not all deaf people have speech impediments -- whether later-deafened or not. Just an FYI.
 
I was deafened at age three-just after i had developed my speech pattern. I had good speech my whole life with a moderate hearing loss of 85 db. After I lost the rest of my hearing at 17, I lost the stability i had in being confident and sure of what I was saying. After my CI, everyone, including myself, has noticed a big improvement in my speech.

Yes, it is possible for a later deafened person to have a speech "impediment", meaning they might not speak as well due to *not hearing* sounds
 
Cessna said:
I know it's a movie. I was asking though if in general do deaf people who go deaf after learning how to speak can have speech impediments?
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It depends on the individual person, how much they can hear after they become deaf, how long they have been speaking first, if they have hearing aids or a cochlear implant, etc.

The former president of Gallaudet, I. King Jordan, became deaf when he was about 20 years old. He became president of Gallaudet 25 years later, and he definitely had lost his speech clarity. He is still very understandable by everyone, but he has a "deaf voice" now. I believe he uses hearing aids but I'm not sure.

I have a friend who lost his hearing at age 20, about 8 years ago. He has a cochlear implant. His speech is just as clear as it was before he became deaf.

I have another friend who became deaf at age 6, and she got a cochlear implant when she was 14. She has a "very deaf voice" and she is understandable if you know her, but if you never met her you might have a hard time at first.

The current president of Gallaudet, Robert Davila, became deaf when he was about 8 years old. He could already speak at the time, of course. Today his speech is pretty understandable, not perfect, but you can understand him even though he has a "deaf voice." I don't know if he has hearing aids or not.

So it depends on the person and their individual situation. Some people lose their speech clarity, because they cannot hear themselves. Some people still sound as they did before they went deaf. Everybody is different.
 
AlleyCat said:
I don't know the statistics, but I would assume that could happen. Most deaf people who have speech impediments have that as a result of not hearing certain sounds and letters to form words and letters correctly. While this would normally not be an issue for a later-deafened person, if that person loses their hearing after learning how to speak, no longer hearing those sounds may make that person forget how some of those sounds are formed. Not right away, but perhaps over time. I would imagine it would not be the same type of speech impediment, though. I'm sure other late-deafened people who read this forum could answer this better. But one note - do you know for sure from the movie that the character who had no speech impediment was a later-deafened person? Because not all deaf people have speech impediments -- whether later-deafened or not. Just an FYI.
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Bingo. Excellent explanation.
 
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