Must be a southern turned northern accent. I'm late-deafened but have had people tell me the same thing - before I started losing my hearing. I spent the first 11 years of my life in GA then moved to DE. My parents are from the mid atlantic, so I had both northern & southern accents to influence me. I finally, after 40+ years, went to Boston a few months ago. Always said I wanted to go hear what I sound like. Unfortunately, I was only there a couple of hours and forgot to listen for accents from the few people I talked to. Guess I'll have to go back up. 
Sent from my iPhone using AllDeaf