Is speaking and listening hard work for hearing people?

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Lighthouse77

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Just want to know what speaking and listening is like for hearing people. I never been hearing so I don't know what it is like. Is it easy? Hard? Do you struggle?
 
It can be hard to listen in really loud situations...I never had problems speaking when I was hearing tho unless I talk too fast lol...other than that I didn't used to have problems with either until I started losing my hearing
 
I don't know but I strongly feel that, people, deaf or hearing have a problem with listening, a lost art.
 
Hearing was not too much of a problem except in large group situations, but listening is what is the lost art. There is a difference between hearing and listening.

I had no problem speaking, but I find it harder now.
 
Tousi said:
I don't know but I strongly feel that, people, deaf or hearing have a problem with listening, a lost art.
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I'm not talking about going in one ear and out the other type of listening. I'm talking about how easily can you pick up words.
 
I just asked my hubby this question. He said it depends on what he is doing when it comes to listening..if there is a lot of background noise, he has a hard time picking up words.

As for speaking, he said because of his Philadelphia accent, he has to work hard to pronounce of a lot of words clearly. He said he has trouble expressing himself through speaking sometimes.
 
before I started losing my hearing, speaking could be challenging because I have speech and language difficulties. I have also been hard to understand. I also have auditory processing problems <unrelated to hearing "loss"> so I may have heard something but didn't understand it, or just recalled parts of it, if it was complex. I tend to think I am a pretty good "active" listener because I am pretty intuitive and tend to have listened with with more than my ears.
 
When I got my hearing aids it helped but was still difficult...now it's really hard though even in some convos even with out noise. I am interested in how the naidas will help ...i am hoping they well...
 
My English teacher gave a speech to our class at the beginning of the year (hearing class, I was the only hoh person) about how listening is the hardest thing we do, and how all of our assignments will be a reflection of how well we can listen. He meant listen as in- listening with your soul, understanding, making connections, reflecting the words upon yourself to find true meaning- not just the act of interpreting sounds into words. I jokingly turned to my friend and signed "F, Me" (across classroom, fingerspelling), indicating that I was clearly not going to succeed in that class because of the "Listening" standard he expected. At the end of the year, I received the "Listening Award"- the award given to only one student in my class for excellence in English.

You can listen with your ears. No problem for hearing people. I think deaf/hoh people are just closer to being able to listen with their souls, because they communicate meaning, not words.
 
When I was hearing, hearing was passive. I could overhear stuff. Now to hear I have to really focus on the person and what they're saying, I have to make inferences to understand what's being said, and background noise or a sudden subject change throw me off. When I'm tired I have an even harder time understand speech because I don't have the energy to fill in the gaps.

The only time when hearing was difficult for me when hearing was when it was really noisy or when the person I was talking to had a really strong accent I had trouble understanding. Otherwise it was just a passive and natural process.
 
Hearing was easy before I lost mine. Hearing aids make it more work for me in some ways because some things I still can't hear and other are louder.
 
It was pretty easy when I could hear......sometimes it was too easy
 
Lighthouse77 said:
I'm not talking about going in one ear and out the other type of listening. I'm talking about how easily can you pick up words.
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Yes, speaking and listening are fairly easy for hearing people. Listening is how we analyze the world. It is so ingrained into us to listen that we don't really pay attention to the process. Oftentimes we don't realize that the reason why we recall the meaning of words and phrases is because hearing them phonetically recalls them to our memory. That's why it's difficult for a lot of hearing to understand the concept of a visual world.

Since we grow up learning to analyze the sounds around us, our brains adapt to learning how to filter out background sounds like birds chirping, the ticking clock on the wall, the dripping faucet, footsteps, etc. Sometimes we don't hear everything. The process our brains go through to filter out and modulate sound is automatic, like breathing. We don't hear every single thing. There are a few times I was punished for not hearing things, but humans are not like guard dogs.

Speaking is a bit different. I speak softly. It's hard for me to learn to speak up. Ease of speaking varies from person to person. Speaking is a process we pick up from our hearing. We link the meaning of words to phonetic elements we pick up from our hearing. It is hard for a hearing person that speaks one language to learn another spoken language. It is also why hearing people link hearing, speech, and intelligence together... they vaguely understand the process we go through to learn new things, but they don't understand well enough to realize that it's not the only way to learn.

Also, we tend to hear ourselves speak when we voice. Even if we cover our ears and speak we can hear ourselves. That's how we can self-correct if we are saying something wrong. We know if we're saying something wrong because we use sound and phonics to hear what the word is supposed to sound like and we copy it. I have a LOT of respect for Deaf people who can voice. It is hard to self-correct without knowing what the word is supposed to sound like.
 
My experience is like Quirkylibra's. Hearing used to be effortless. It becomes more and more difficult now. With my HAs, I hear distorted speech. It's like I'm constantly playing Wheel of Fortune! Pat, I'd like to buy a vowel.

Recruitment makes some noises so loud with my HAs that it's complete sensory overload. I don't wear my HAs all of the time. Listening is too much effort. Wearing them makes me tired.

I have balance issues, too. Constantly falling over and running into things.

That said, all of this is just a small part of my life. Life goes on. I've had experiences and met people that I wouldn't know but for losing my hearing. I'm happy to be where I am now.
 
Tujae said:
Yes, speaking and listening are fairly easy for hearing people. Listening is how we analyze the world. It is so ingrained into us to listen that we don't really pay attention to the process. Oftentimes we don't realize that the reason why we recall the meaning of words and phrases is because hearing them phonetically recalls them to our memory. That's why it's difficult for a lot of hearing to understand the concept of a visual world.

Since we grow up learning to analyze the sounds around us, our brains adapt to learning how to filter out background sounds like birds chirping, the ticking clock on the wall, the dripping faucet, footsteps, etc. Sometimes we don't hear everything. The process our brains go through to filter out and modulate sound is automatic, like breathing. We don't hear every single thing. There are a few times I was punished for not hearing things, but humans are not like guard dogs.

Speaking is a bit different. I speak softly. It's hard for me to learn to speak up. Ease of speaking varies from person to person. Speaking is a process we pick up from our hearing. We link the meaning of words to phonetic elements we pick up from our hearing. It is hard for a hearing person that speaks one language to learn another spoken language. It is also why hearing people link hearing, speech, and intelligence together... they vaguely understand the process we go through to learn new things, but they don't understand well enough to realize that it's not the only way to learn.

Also, we tend to hear ourselves speak when we voice. Even if we cover our ears and speak we can hear ourselves. That's how we can self-correct if we are saying something wrong. We know if we're saying something wrong because we use sound and phonics to hear what the word is supposed to sound like and we copy it. I have a LOT of respect for Deaf people who can voice. It is hard to self-correct without knowing what the word is supposed to sound like.[/QUOTE]

I dont know about self-correcting because I dont think about it when speaking. Speaking is very easy for me except for when I encounter unfamilar words..then I struggle.
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I forgot to mention speaking. When I was hearing I had a good idea of how loud or soft I was talking. Now I sometimes talk too loud or too soft without realizing it.
 
I was wondering if I was just complaining too much about being overwhelm all the time even with my hearing aids/CI. I was sitting there wondering, maybe hearing people have do work just as hard as deaf people (with hearing aids, don't know about CI for others, but for me, it is still work) and that I should just suck it up. I was wondering if I'm just being silly because I never been hearing therefore I don't know what it is like.
 
Lighthouse77 said:
I was wondering if I was just complaining too much about being overwhelm all the time even with my hearing aids/CI. I was sitting there wondering, maybe hearing people have do work just as hard as deaf people (with hearing aids, don't know about CI for others, but for me, it is still work) and that I should just suck it up. I was wondering if I'm just being silly because I never been hearing therefore I don't know what it is like.
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It is a known fact that deaf people do have to work harder at speaking and listening. Pls dont feel silly..you have every right to how you feel.
 
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