Speech and Hearing aids

[KristinaB]

I have been told by both family and audiologists and ENT's that I do not have a "deaf accent". Could be because of all the years I had some hearing and all the work my mother made me do for enunciation. All I know is, the longer I go without any hearing, the more I stammer and stutter trying to remember how to say a word. I would not wish that on anyone.

 

[HelloNurse]

ha i introduced my bf to this lady i used to work with and she was like "is he from another country?" and i was like "what are you talking about?" and she was like "his accent, he sounds foreign." haha then i sarcastically told her he was from thailand and she believed me... later she saw us signing and she was like "why are you moving your hands around like that? are you drunk or something??" it took me a good 20 minutes to really convince her that he was indeed deaf, and not from thailand. we were in a bar though, and she was really drunk, so ill give her that. lol

a lot of my deaf friends have asked me how they or other deaf people sound when they talk. i dont know how to really explain it to them. i will usually say something like "i think most hearing people can understand him" or "I understand what he is saying, but other people may have a hard time and need him to repeat himself". I wont lie and say they speak like a hearing person if they dont, although i do know a few that do speak without the deaf accent.

 

[BecLak]

I think most hearies are in denial that there is a difference. They do not want to acknowledge that you are deaf so say that you speak 'clearly'. It saves them from having to accomodate you. Young children and audiologists (on the most part) will tell you how it really is. "You speak funny" (I get that one a lot from kids) and "I could tell" from the audiologists (although most of them think it is just mild hearing loss as opposed to severe - until they test me of course and again audis will never admit that you are actually deaf, they prefer the term HoH).

 

[Speedy Hawk]

I have no idea if I speak well or not cos I keep getting different views. My family says I do but I don't trust that. Hearing people getting know me says I do but I assume they trying to be nice. Then I get other hearing people like Bus driver, buy tickets for train, etc they do not understand me. I stopped speaking and use paper and pen since I was 15.

 

[coolgirlspyer90]

Ok, I have to say something in this.

I was given speech therapy since I was about 4 years old, and was given a pair of hearing aids for the first time. My parents have told me a million of other times that they were afraid of me not being able to talk and that they wanted me to be a part of the hearing world as well as the deaf world. When i was JUST beginning to do speech therapy, i was JUST beginning to learn ASL as well.

As far as I know, People from my school and my parent's friends and my friends have complimented me on how well i speak, considering that i have been in speech therapy for 15 years (and i still am). People do know that I am deaf because they see my cochlear implants. They don't accuse me that i'm not deaf and that i'm hearing because i speak well. I mean, even with 15 years of intensive speech therapy i still have a hard time saying some words. I have an extremely hard time saying the word: "Jewelry, chow, and appropriate".

I have told my parents that i do not want to do speech therapy anymore. They said they want me to continue it, for my own benefit and so that i won't be teased for the way I talk. I mean i understand that they want to protect me from being hurt about the way I talk, but There are going to be times where I'm going to be hurt, and they're not going to be able to protect me.

I think its a great benefit to be able to speak well, and also sign to other people who are deaf, When my deaf friends need me to interpret (and BTW i am deaf) I lipread, and I speak fairly well, and i sign when both hearing and deaf needs it, my friends don't mind me helping them when they need it the most. When i'm with my deaf friends, I automatically turn off my voice, but when i'm with my hearing friends/family, my voice is on. Its mainly based on hearing the communication well. I know most people won't want the help, but it's something we can use. Like an interpreter for example. Even though it's a pain in the butt, we still use them just like signing, texting, the old fashioned pen and paper, etc.

My post is a little off topic, but I kind of hope that I showed what's the point of what i was talking about.

 

[Recover5302]

Ok, I have to say something in this.

I was given speech therapy since I was about 4 years old, and was given a pair of hearing aids for the first time. My parents have told me a million of other times that they were afraid of me not being able to talk and that they wanted me to be a part of the hearing world as well as the deaf world. When i was JUST beginning to do speech therapy, i was JUST beginning to learn ASL as well.

As far as I know, People from my school and my parent's friends and my friends have complimented me on how well i speak, considering that i have been in speech therapy for 15 years (and i still am). People do know that I am deaf because they see my cochlear implants. They don't accuse me that i'm not deaf and that i'm hearing because i speak well. I mean, even with 15 years of intensive speech therapy i still have a hard time saying some words. I have an extremely hard time saying the word: "Jewelry, chow, and appropriate".

I have told my parents that i do not want to do speech therapy anymore. They said they want me to continue it, for my own benefit and so that i won't be teased for the way I talk. I mean i understand that they want to protect me from being hurt about the way I talk, but There are going to be times where I'm going to be hurt, and they're not going to be able to protect me.

I think its a great benefit to be able to speak well, and also sign to other people who are deaf, When my deaf friends need me to interpret (and BTW i am deaf) I lipread, and I speak fairly well, and i sign when both hearing and deaf needs it, my friends don't mind me helping them when they need it the most. When i'm with my deaf friends, I automatically turn off my voice, but when i'm with my hearing friends/family, my voice is on. Its mainly based on hearing the communication well. I know most people won't want the help, but it's something we can use. Like an interpreter for example. Even though it's a pain in the butt, we still use them just like signing, texting, the old fashioned pen and paper, etc.

My post is a little off topic, but I kind of hope that I showed what's the point of what i was talking about.

WOw you can switch between voicing and signing. You have then best of both worlds. I didn't know you had CI's that's cool. Well you told me you had interpreters. Do your interpreters voice for you even though your speech is fine? or are you more independent. Did they say something about your speech? I remember when I met an interpreter years ago. She automatically thinks people with CI's don't need interpreters and they can speak fine. I told her it varies. I wish there was more awarness about the deaf and hard of hearing.

 

[jillio]

You know a lot of deaf people who can tell what you sound like?

 

[jillio]

I think most hearies are in denial that there is a difference. They do not want to acknowledge that you are deaf so say that you speak 'clearly'. It saves them from having to accomodate you. Young children and audiologists (on the most part) will tell you how it really is. "You speak funny" (I get that one a lot from kids) and "I could tell" from the audiologists (although most of them think it is just mild hearing loss as opposed to severe - until they test me of course and again audis will never admit that you are actually deaf, they prefer the term HoH).

You have a very valid point. I am one of those hearies that will state outright that there is a difference. I can pick a deaf voice out of a crowd. Just a couple of weeks ago, I was in line at the grocery, and when the clerk spoke to me, I immediately knew that she was deaf. (And no, I did not see her HA's because her hair covered them). It has a lot to do with the timbre of the voice more than ennunciation. It has nothing to do with how well a person speaks. There is just a difference in tonality.

BTW: the clerk was very surprised when I asked her (in sign) if she was deaf. But we struck up a very pleasant conversation after that. I will seek her check out line out next time I am in the store.

 

[coolgirlspyer90]

WOw you can switch between voicing and signing. You have then best of both worlds. I didn't know you had CI's that's cool. Well you told me you had interpreters. Do your interpreters voice for you even though your speech is fine? or are you more independent. Did they say something about your speech? I remember when I met an interpreter years ago. She automatically thinks people with CI's don't need interpreters and they can speak fine. I told her it varies. I wish there was more awarness about the deaf and hard of hearing.

haha, well, even though i have a CI, i still need an interpreter, I still miss out on information. I have to rely on the interpreter for that. But some of my friends knows sign language so when i don't have an interpreter, they sign for me-sometimes. I still have to "teach" my school about the deaf culture. They believe that with a CI (even with HAs) we don't need an interpreter, and thats probably why they are lazy about finding us qualified interpreters. My interpreter doesn't voice for me, They know that i'm perfectly capable of talking, and they know that anyways. Like, I'll look to the interpreter when she's signing stuff, and when she stops talking- meaning the teacher stops talking, i reply back by a question that i need to be explained because i didn't understand a math problem, etc. When i'm in the hearing world, I just leave my voice on. When I'm in the deaf world, I leave my voice off. Just so its fair to the 2 worlds. I mean having speech therapy is a great benefit for us, I mean I do hate speech therapy because you just basically sit there and say words and work on comprehension,etc but it does help you.

 

[marcyp06]

People always asked where my HOH girlfriend was from they thought she had slight accent from another area, most didnt realize she was deaf.

 

[Hohtopics]

haha, well, even though i have a CI, i still need an interpreter, I still miss out on information. I have to rely on the interpreter for that. But some of my friends knows sign language so when i don't have an interpreter, they sign for me-sometimes. I still have to "teach" my school about the deaf culture. They believe that with a CI (even with HAs) we don't need an interpreter, and thats probably why they are lazy about finding us qualified interpreters. My interpreter doesn't voice for me, They know that i'm perfectly capable of talking, and they know that anyways. Like, I'll look to the interpreter when she's signing stuff, and when she stops talking- meaning the teacher stops talking, i reply back by a question that i need to be explained because i didn't understand a math problem, etc. When i'm in the hearing world, I just leave my voice on. When I'm in the deaf world, I leave my voice off. Just so its fair to the 2 worlds. I mean having speech therapy is a great benefit for us, I mean I do hate speech therapy because you just basically sit there and say words and work on comprehension,etc but it does help you.

How long have you had your CI? You don't necessarily have to do a "voice off" when communicating with the deaf to be "fair". You could still do "total communication". Just saying it constructively.

There are also exercises you could do at home. If you're tired of going to therapy and so forth. Just so you'd know.

 

[Hohtopics]

People always asked where my HOH girlfriend was from they thought she had slight accent from another area, most didnt realize she was deaf.

I've had that happen to me occasionally. People asking me what country I was from, thinking I had a bit of an accent or something. I tell them that I was hearing impaired. Although it happened a little more often prior to my implantation.

 

[coolgirlspyer90]

How long have you had your CI? You don't necessarily have to do a "voice off" when communicating with the deaf to be "fair". You could still do "total communication". Just saying it constructively.

There are also exercises you could do at home. If you're tired of going to therapy and so forth. Just so you'd know.

I had my left CI for about 10 years, I recently got my right ear implanted in September, got activated in october. And i mean with speech, i have to go to speech twice a week on wednesdays and thursdays during school. I mean I hate it, but my parents say its for my own benefit. oh well.

 

[rebeccalj]

Before my son was dx with hearing loss, when I hear the word "deaf" I think you can't hear ANYTHING. That isn't the case. I've always said my mom has "hearing loss" due to her age. I never say she's "deaf" because to me she can hear. So I guess when someone tells me they're "deaf" and they speak clearly. I think most of society are like me and wonder how someone can have good speech if they can't hear speech.

Not so strange. If you learn to lip read, adding sound to the annunciations isn't a stretch. I taught myself to speak at age 5 by standing in front of a mirror and putting my hand on my throat to feel vibrations and increased or decreased the volume based on the vibration in my throat.

I have an accent that most people think is English (British).

 

[Hohtopics]

Not so strange. If you learn to lip read, adding sound to the annunciations isn't a stretch. I taught myself to speak at age 5 by standing in front of a mirror and putting my hand on my throat to feel vibrations and increased or decreased the volume based on the vibration in my throat.

I have an accent that most people think is English (British).

The interesting thing is that I noticed that myself. That when I put my hand on my throat, I could feel the vibrations and the frequencies of my voice to the point that it usually sounds very good when I do that. But obviously one cannot go around walking with their hands next to their throat.

 

[dereksbicycles]

Interesting topic. I know that if I learn speech even with hearing aids, I would not have perfect speech. That is why I avoided hearing aids for many years. I would love to try HAs again just to see if I would be able to use my voice better. Better to try than to not try...yeah, I will have deaf accent, but so does many people. I think it is better to try than to be silent.