"Tone of voice" and being deaf/HOH

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Nancy

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I knew that many deaf and hard-of-hearing people cannot hear the "tone" of voice from people if they are upset, asking a question, etc. I can't always hear the tone of voice either.
I told someone I know about this, and she (yes, she's hearing) told me that is "hogwash".

What do you think?? :ugh:
 
Oh Nancy, don't listen to the hearing person of all people. Deaf/HOH cannot hear their voice's amplifications or acoustics. When a Deaf/HOH person gets excited or upset, it is perfectly natural that we raise our voices. It is a common issue at the beginning of a relationship between hearing & Deaf/HoH partners. :sarcasm mode on: The embarrassment of people looking their way but Deaf/HoH people do not carry around wonderful gadgets that measures the voice acoustics to tell them they are going way off the "accepted" decibel level. :sarcasm mode off: It only takes tolerance and patience on both parts, Deaf/HoH and hearing to communicate when the voice level is going higher than normal.
 
Yes, my voice raise up when I get anxious or angry just like a lot of deaf and HOH people....but what I meant was the "sound of voice" from the other person. For example, if someone has an irritated voice but she was talking in a nice way, a deaf or HOH person cannot tell by the tone of her voice that she is irritated. Or....if someone is sad, she has a sad voice, but a deaf or HOH person cannot tell by that.
You know what I mean? :/
 
:) Wouldn't a deaf/hoh person tell the tone of voice of the person they are talking to by the expression on their face of the emotions they are experiencing? Because deaf/hoh are so visual, their eyes are their ears, so they may be able to tell the tone of voice by the facial expression of the deaf/hoh.
I am not sure if I gave you the right answer. :)
 
CODAchild said:
:) Wouldn't a deaf/hoh person tell the tone of voice of the person they are talking to by the expression on their face of the emotions they are experiencing?
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Sometimes hearing people are not very visually expressive.
 
Reba said:
Sometimes hearing people are not very visually expressive.
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:) Yes, Reba, you're right, you have a good point there. It is very hard at times to read feelings of a hearing person especially when they are not used to communicating with deaf/hoh people. :ty: for the tip!!!! :)
 
Hearing people use many different 'tones of voice," and are very often sarcastic, especially Americans. Although their facial expression may say they are happy, sad, etc. they may actually be feeling something completely different.
 
some terps and others says i had a nice voice or pretty voice, unfortuantely i RARELY uses them but sometimes i do when i wasnt thinking i may speaks a lil well but i dont really TALKS that HOH and again alot people just determined me as hoh, only the reason why they deteremined me as hoh is because i can hear a lil well and talks lil well, but it doesnt mean that i m hoh as well.. i still considered myself as being deaf p-e-r-i-o-d!

i got a compliment from terp today saying that i had a pretty voice.. i couldnt hear my own voice when i had to hit the high pitch! :o
 
Well not being able to hear someone's tone of voice is a HUGE reason why so many (if not most) oral deaf kids have trouble with social skills in the hearing world. I do sometimes have difficulty with that, like a few times people have had to say "she's joking " or whatever. I have trouble trying to control my tone of voice sometimes especially when I am tired, stressed or upset.
 
I learned to read people's feelings through facial expression and body language.

At first I had a very difficult time but I persisted and learned to the point that it became a "gut instinct." I only developed it through practice practice practice!

People who can hear fine have difficulty with vocal cues too, believe it or not.

My friend Paul is blind and obviously his hearing makes up for his lack of sight. While he could hear me talking in a whisper if I was 20 ft. away, he had a difficult time when I was being sarcastic because often my delivery is deadpan instead of changing my speech pattern as many people do.

Please don't think that tone of voice is the only indicator of how someone is feeling. It is one of many context clues and often I think people rely on it way too much!
 
Nancy said:
I knew that many deaf and hard-of-hearing people cannot hear the "tone" of voice from people if they are upset, asking a question, etc. I can't always hear the tone of voice either.
I told someone I know about this, and she (yes, she's hearing) told me that is "hogwash".

What do you think?? :ugh:
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Thats interesting, some times I have trouble with a person's tone of voice but it's because I'm socialy inept, or the speaker voice is more monotone than normal.

Most of the time the tone of their voice is the only thing I pick up. The words themselves are incomprehencible.
 
Pvt. Parts said:
My friend Paul is blind and obviously his hearing makes up for his lack of sight. While he could hear me talking in a whisper if I was 20 ft. away, he had a difficult time when I was being sarcastic because often my delivery is deadpan instead of changing my speech pattern as many people do.
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Same here! :) I was born blind and have *always* had trouble identifying when a person was joking or trying to be funny because I couldn't see their body language or facial expression. Many times I had to be told because I couldn't hear anything in their voice which indicated this.

I don't think I'm alone in this regard. I've known people who can see and hear who have the same problem. :)
 
Nancy said:
I knew that many deaf and hard-of-hearing people cannot hear the "tone" of voice from people if they are upset, asking a question, etc. I can't always hear the tone of voice either.
I told someone I know about this, and she (yes, she's hearing) told me that is "hogwash".

What do you think?? :ugh:
Click to expand...

Oh no this is not "hogwash"! As my hearing loss progresses I can hear tone of voice less and less! I usually end up offending people because I ask if they're upset because I can't read their facial expressions and then they get mad and say "why do you think I'm upset??!". It's strange listening to everything in a monotone and people have told me that my voice is taking on a monotone too cause I cant really hear it very well anymore but I don't mean to! (Weird putting on my hearing aid for the first time today and hearing my voice well for the first time in years!!)
 
As one who is very oral (HOH with HA and now CI), I can attest that tone is often a critical piece of information that needs to hear in addition to the "words" to really catch the meaning. I have, fortunately, be able to catch it most of the time both with HA and CI. When I don't, oh well things can get a little confused. Obviously, not everybody speaks with a tone sometimes this is done on purpose or they are just monotone.

I do want to clear up one thing. Hearing people, generally unbeknowst to them, do pick up on gestures both of the face and body gestures and use that to help figure out the "message". At the same token, they do some stuff themselves abeit not anything like those using ASL (except maybe Italians...those great hand wavers ;)
 
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