Loudness

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ryancher

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Not sure where to post this... but it's a question I want to throw out there.

Even though Tyler has worn hearing aids since he's been 5 months old - he has always been VERY loud (with and without his aids).

When he was a baby, he would often cry very loud and then his babbles were loud too. We never needed to use a baby monitor - there was no missing him (inside or outside).

Now as a 3 year old... he has an awful high pitched scream. It is sooooo loud! You can clearly hear it for miles.

Just wondering if he has "great" vocal cords... or if it is somewhat related to his hearing.

Reason I'm asking... lately his screaming has got worse - he's still non-verbal so he gets frustrated easily (and yes we're doing signs and PECS with him)... not to mention normal 3 year old temper tantrums.

Well today at Church down in the nursery, he started one of his screaming episodes... it was time to leave and he wanted to go. It was ear piercing and everyone turned around to see where it came from. The one lady commented "wow he's loud" and another person said "oh I don't think he can hear so that's probably why". I don't think they realized I was his mother. It was VERY hurtful! Initially I was a little embarrassed about his screaming but once this lady said this I was hurt.

He can hear! That's why he wears aids! People are so misinformed! It ticks me off! I get so protective of him!
 
I can hear somewhat with hearing aids too. But my voice can still cause people to look as it isn't modulated like a hearing person.

Probably his screaming will be less when he has a reliable communication method, but he probably won't sound like a hearing person ever.

There is no reason to have hurt feelings if people notice he does not sound like a hearing child. That is one of those things you will need to learn to accept.
 
No, that's not what I'm talking about... his voice doesn't sound "different". Maybe when he starts speaking. And I think we'll gradually just get used to that.

What I'm talking about, is the general "loudness". When he screams, he SCREAMS! When he cries, he CRIES! He is very loud... and super high pitched. I just wonder if that's just him... or hoh related???
 
I remember that when I was wearing hearing aids and I get a bit upset or emotional I tend to be not aware on how loud my voice is becoming and it becomes hoarse after awhile. I did not sound like a hearing child as I was growing up and that is some thing my mother had to get used to.
 
My daughter is also deaf. He is loud because he can not hear, it is as simple as that. Yes, he hears better with his aids, but the "loudness" is due to his hearing loss. He will never hear like a hearing person and will have to be taught loud vs soft, because he can not hear it.

I know exactly what you mean by "the scream", my daughter had it when she was young. When she had hearing aids she would sort of "sing" to herself all the time, and we could identify her by her sounds from other rooms, and knew that she was walking down the hall in church because her sounds were so different than other kids.
 
Oh, also, if his loss is moderatly severe (and worse in high frequencies, which most losses are) it is very likely that the high pitch scream is VERY loud because he is unable to hear the high frequencies with his hearing aids. HA's can not boost high frequencies like they do the lows. That is just the nature of hearing aids. I would guess that the scream is so loud because he needs to scream that loud to hear it.
 
So if he screams that loud with his hearing aids on... would it not be LOUD to him too? I thought hearing aids brought sounds up to hearing levels?


(I'm not too concerned about how his voice will sound... that won't matter to me. As long as he can hear and speak (or ASL) I'm fine with that).
 
Like F_J said, it is likely due to his hearing loss. Even today my parents will comment that I'm yelling or that I'm whispering, because it's so difficult to control your own volume when hoh. Also, he's a toddler, so.. :D

When we were younger, my brother's teacher thought he was hoh, because he ALWAYS USED TO YELL!
Turns out he was suffering from youngest child syndrome, always straining to be heard.
 
Even today my parents will comment that I'm yelling or that I'm whispering, because it's so difficult to control your own volume when hoh.
Click to expand...

Just curious why this is? If you're wearing your aids won't you hear at what volume you are speaking, yelling, or screaming at?
 
ryancher said:
No, that's not what I'm talking about... his voice doesn't sound "different". Maybe when he starts speaking. And I think we'll gradually just get used to that.

What I'm talking about, is the general "loudness". When he screams, he SCREAMS! When he cries, he CRIES! He is very loud... and super high pitched. I just wonder if that's just him... or hoh related???
Click to expand...

mod·u·late (mj-lt)
v. mod·u·lat·ed, mod·u·lat·ing, mod·u·lates
v.tr.
1. To adjust or adapt to a certain proportion; regulate or temper.
2. To change or vary the pitch, intensity, or tone of (one's voice or a musical instrument, for example).

modulate - definition of modulate by the Free Online Dictionary, Thesaurus and Encyclopedia.

I think you are talking about that. Modulate means he can't hear or tell how loud.
 
ryancher said:
So if he screams that loud with his hearing aids on... would it not be LOUD to him too? I thought hearing aids brought sounds up to hearing levels?


(I'm not too concerned about how his voice will sound... that won't matter to me. As long as he can hear and speak (or ASL) I'm fine with that).
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It is unlikely that it is loud to him.

Hearing aids make sounds louder, but they do NOT restore normal hearing. Do you know how well he hears with his aids? What does his audiogram look like? It depends on how severe his loss is, and what level the hearing aids bring him up to (and at what frequencies, high vs low) but I would assume that how loud he makes sound = how loud things have to be for him to hear it.
 
ryancher said:
Just curious why this is? If you're wearing your aids won't you hear at what volume you are speaking, yelling, or screaming at?
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Many people who wear hearing aids can not hear or understand speech at conversational levels. They have to "guess" how loud they should speak.
 
faire_jour said:
Many people who wear hearing aids can not hear or understand speech at conversational levels. They have to "guess" how loud they should speak.
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What do you mean by this? Doesn't hearing aids allow people to hear and understand speech at conversational levels? Isn't that the point of hearing aids? To make speech audible?
 
ryancher said:
What do you mean by this? Doesn't hearing aids allow people to hear and understand speech at conversational levels? Isn't that the point of hearing aids? To make speech audible?
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No.

A hearing aid amplifies sound, that is all. If the loss is too severe, the aid can NOT amplify the sound loud enough to hear and understand speech.

MANY MANY MANY people can not hear or understand speech with hearing aids, my daughter is one.
 
Oh yes... I understand that... you can only amplify residual hearing. If there isn't enough it's not possible.

But Tyler has a moderate/severe loss - his aids should amplify speech enough to be audible? So, why would he not hear sounds/speech at approx. the same level or pitch as us.

When he screams that LOUD... would it not seem LOUD to him? He turns when I call his name at a normal level.
 
ryancher said:
Oh yes... I understand that... you can only amplify residual hearing. If there isn't enough it's not possible.

But Tyler has a moderate/severe loss - his aids should amplify speech enough to be audible? So, why would he not hear sounds/speech at approx. the same level or pitch as us.

When he screams... would it not seem loud to him? He turns when I call his name at a normal level.
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My daughter had a moderate loss and was unable to understand spoken language with her hearing aids. Her loss was 40 db sloping to 60 db. She would turn to her name and could understand the rhythm of common phrases (like "go get your shoes" or "sit down") but couldn't understand the individual sounds and words that make up running language. We did years of therapy (luckily we were also using ASL) and she was never able to get beyond a few dozen simple words and the supersegmental stage of understanding speech. She could hear sound, but not understand speech. There is a HUGE difference.

My daughter was hard of hearing, far away from the profound level of loss that people call deaf. She was very loud with her hearing aids in or out. She screamed a very high pitch scream (I have heard MANY kids with hearing loss scream that way) and her overall voice was just louder than a child with typical hearing...ALL THE TIME
 
And again, a typical hearing person hears at near 0 db in all frequencies (that is what defines what 0 db is). A child with a moderate-severe loss is probably aided to around 25-30 db, depending on the loss and the frequency range. Normal conversational speech is at 55 db. Since your child doesn't hear until 30 db, the conversation will be half as loud, and be much more like how we hear a whisper.

audiogram.gif


Here is a picture of an audiogram with common sounds. Even with hearing aids, I would guess that your son is not hearing anything above the 30 db line. That would include several speech sounds. And everything at 30 db would be only quiet enough to detect, not understand. It would probably take to about 50 db to hear and discriminate.

Your audiologist should be doing testing and telling you what he can hear and at what levels. Also ask for speech discrimination testing. That tells you at what level he can not just hear but UNDERSTAND the difference between the sounds.
 
Yes I can hear speech in quite but hearing aids also have a adjustment on the maximum power that they can give to protect the remaining hearing. This means that maximum power will be the same after a point and talking or screaming would not get any louder after a point. In my case normal conversation level is not too far from the maximum power setting of the hearing aids.

ryancher said:
Oh yes... I understand that... you can only amplify residual hearing. If there isn't enough it's not possible.

But Tyler has a moderate/severe loss - his aids should amplify speech enough to be audible? So, why would he not hear sounds/speech at approx. the same level or pitch as us.

When he screams that LOUD... would it not seem LOUD to him? He turns when I call his name at a normal level.
Click to expand...
 
I get told frequently that I'm speaking a little too loud. I'm nearly 40, so over the years I have tried to remember to keep my volume a little lower. Yet, I forget because it sounds to me as if I'm speaking at a conversational level, when in reality I'm not. With my HAs, I can hear speech, just not understand all of it, but also I don't hear it at the same volume a hearing person does. I'm certain that with your son's HAs, he does hear himself screaming. He just doesn't realize how loud he is in proportion to hearing people, and a big part of that is age. He will turn down his volume when he starts understanding from other people that he's being too loud. It's how I learned too.
 
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