Improving Speech (Not born deaf)

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RonJaxon

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Let me explain why I added that "Not born deaf" in the title. The reason I mentioned that is because this post isn't about a person who is born deaf and learned to speak orally without sound (Which I can't even imagine how hard that would be and I admire those who work so hard at that). I'm more talking about people like me who are "late deafened" and could hear when they learned to speak. But lost their hearing later and as a result of long term hearing loss their speech develops a degree of speech issues (often referred to "Slurred speech").

Personally my speech is for the most part understandable. Sometimes they say it slurs a little and I usually just have to repeat it slower for it to be audible. From time to time people ask where I'm from because they say it sounds like I have an accent.

Well, as an entertainer who performs on stage in front of hundreds of people. I don't want my speech to be "just good enough". I want my audiences to understand what I'm saying. After all these people are often paying to see what I do and hear what I say.

I've been meet with a lot of frustration in my search to find someone to help me improve my speech. I've tried a number of "Specialist" and I'm sure they are great at what they do when they are working with someone who is born deaf. But what annoys me is that when I meet with them they say things like, "You're speech is great considering you've been deaf for 20 years". This is usually fallowed by something along the lines of "You don't need my help" or "There's nothing more I could do to improve your Speech".

To that my thought are, forgive me for this, That's BS! I can always improve if I work hard enough at it. The problem is I can't do it alone because I obviously can't hear my speech. So I need someone to work with me on this. Someone who can hear. Someone honest enough to be blunt and tell me what needs to be worked on. Someone who knows some techniques to help with the areas I need help with.

So here's why I'm posting. The specialist who work with the deaf don't seem to think I need improvement. I think most of them think I can't. But I now I can. I've already improved. To prove this I can show videos of me 5 or 6 years ago and then show you videos of today and it didn't get worse, it got better because I've worked on it. I've had people who where honest enough to tell me when I didn't say something right and told them to tell me so. The problem is people tend to think it would hurt my feelings so it's not easy to find such a person.

So, do any of you have any suggestions for my situation? A friend of mine suggested maybe some kind of "acting coach" who specializes in improving peoples ability to speak clearly.

Ron
 
You can work on your speech, but I think you will be exhausted to focus on your speech all the time. You can make a habit of good speech though, but it's easy to lose it too. The best you can do is have your family around you to remind you, but it can get annoying at times.

cochlear implant might make it easier on you.
 
"deaf voice" <---> "hearing voice"

One of my grandaughters had trouble with her "r's" and had a bit of a lisp. The school demanded she go to "speech therapy" and I'm saying "What for?"

Why waste funding, not to mention her time and yours, when what she says is perfectly understandable and all it does is give her speech a distinct, individual, sound.

The school said I was a bad grandparent who fostered an attitude in his offspring and left them open to be teased unmercifully by other children.

BS. This is supposed to be a country that respects individual freedoms. Try to teach the children to respect people's differences. Not try to force them all into a single mold.

Maurice Chevalier, and old time movie actor said it all when people told him, "You have lived in this country long enough to stop sounding like a Frenchman and start sounding like an American."

He said:

"I am a Frenchman. Why shouldn't I sound like a Frenchman. You are an American, why should you speak French like a native."

We are what we are and we should be proud of that and not have to do a lot of extra work "just to fit in."

I will never sign the way a Deaf CODA does, but I am still part of the signing community.

How you speak should not be more important than what you have to say.

You are still part of the speaking community. '
 
it's possible that once your implant is activated, your speech will improve over time. I've heard of that happening, because that person is hearing the speech sounds they didn't hear before so therefore they start using the speech sounds.

I don't really have any suggestions.. do you have friends or family that could help you out with working on your speech? maybe you'll just need to keep going to different speech therapists until you find one that is more than happy to help you out.
 
Ron, I can assure you that I do understand where you are coming from, I am different from you obviously since i was born deaf but i wanted to tell you that I had people commented how clearer my speech is since i was switched on and i didn't even have speech therapy so there is chance of you speaking clearer. Although I do notice I struggle with my speech if I am too worried about it! so I let nature take it course My CI hearing therapist who i had asked for tips on prouncing certain letters/words and she had given me sheets of paper with side picture of a head showing where the tounge should be when prouncing the letters. Now i have memorised the pictures and if someone misunderstood me in my mind i look at the picture, the 2nd time never fails (so far!) :D

Perhaps speak to your CI audiologist and ask her/him to suggest someone to help you with your speech, they may even have one onsite. In Uk the CI centre i am at provides speech therapy for everyone on request regardless how good they are.
 
Thanks guys. Who knows, maybe my CI will allow me to make some improvements on this. I'm one of them that there's no way to really tell how well I'll be able to hear speech. So we'll see. Thanks for the encouragement and suggestions.

I also want to mention the fact that this isn't something I'm sitting around pouting about or anything. My speech is good enough for every day life. I just have to repeat things from time to time. But what I'm really thinking about on this issue is more on my professional life. It's not a huge issue but from time to time after I do a show some of my spectators might make a comment about not being able to understand what I say sometimes. So far they've all been friendly comments as if they where telling me to be helpful. So as an entertainer it's important for my audiences to be able to understand me. So that's the main reason I want to find the right kind of "Specialist" for this.

Before it's brought up. I've had people suggest I become a silent performer. I really looked into that and some of my acts are done without talking. But those who have seen my shows and the issue comes out about me being a silent performer. They usually don't suggest I do this because they say my comedy is one of the best parts of my acts. I was in a conversation with a group of magicians and most of them said they don't think I should be a silent performer. When I asked why they said, "Because you're !@#$$ funny". LOL

In other words "The things I'm saying during my shows". Some of you might get a kick out of it because a lot of my humor is about the fact that I'm deaf. No, I don't make fun of deafness. I simply use that part of myself that's unique and sets me apart from other magicians. For example another performer I know is a very big guy. I mean he could be on "The biggest looser". And he'll talk about things like going hunting and trying to hide behind a tree (He tries to hide behind the mic stand to illustrate how that doesn't work for him. :))

I'll do things like when someone picks a card I'll say, "Oh, I didn't see the card. I'm deaf... (Smirk)". :P

So this is the main reason I'm working to improve my speech. It's a professional decisions more then anything.

Thanks again.

Ron
 
RonJaxon said:
Thanks guys. Who knows, maybe my CI will allow me to make some improvements on this. I'm one of them that there's no way to really tell how well I'll be able to hear speech. So we'll see. Thanks for the encouragement and suggestions.

...

Ron
Click to expand...

If you have heard in the past and had normal speech development, then you will most likely do well once you hear yourself again. Speech is a feedback loop that requires decent hearing to keep it "sharp". Your brain hasn't forgotten any of that but is somewhat "rusty".

My speech started going downhill somewhat when my hearing (with HA) started going south. It got more and more noticeable as I lost more hearing.

After I got my CI, it took less than a week for my speech to show significant improvement. I have a brother that I keep in touch with maybe twice a year and he noticed the improvement right away. It was two plus weeks after I got my CI and I hadn't talked to him in at least six months. There are others that I hadn't talked with in a while and said the same thing. Just recently (I had my CI for almost 5 years now), a friend from church hadn't talked with me in six months or so (we are in a very large church and one sometimes doesn't see some people for a while) and said my speech is now even better since he heard me last. I guess the brain never stops getting better using a CI especially with the remappings every year.
 
Hello Ron ...

I think I can echo what others are saying here, that you will likely be able to hear your own voice pretty good once you CI is activated. No doubt that will go a long way toward correcting any mispronuciations you might have picked-up over the years due to you hearing loss.

As you know, my own CI activation was just over a week ago, and it's been a real joy to be able to hear my own and other people's voices more or less clearly again. I still have a few problems distinguishing certain speech sounds, but my audi thinks I'm doing quite well for having just been activated 10 days ago.

I've been reading your posts and know you activation date is coming up soon. You've probably got a little apprehension mixed in with your hopeful anticipation.

I just want to say that I'm rooting for you all the way and hope you have a successful outcome. If your results are anything like mine, I'm sure you'll be very pleased and satisfied.

So ... GOOD LUCK AND ALL THE BEST!
 
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just a question, does the sounds sound exactly like the sounds you remember, or it is just a sounds you know and your brain quickly register it?

Like how water sounds like statics at first,then as you get used to it (without the remapping), it begins to sound like water. Is it because the brain is telling you "ok, this doesn't sound like exactly water, but I know it is water so I'll just file this sound as water because it sound closely like water... perhap make it sound like water exactly like this person remember"

I often wonder why hearing people get the mickey mouse (or any funny sounds) when they first activate. Shouldn't they already get a clear sounds from the moment they are activated since they are already used to hearing sounds? I know some of you have been deaf for quite awhile, but what about people who were implanted soon as they lost their hearing?

I just wonder how CI would benefit deaf children who never heard natural hearing sounds compare to late deafened and that if parents should expect too much from CI?
 
I have Cochlear implant myself for awhile , but not everything is clear to me it. sounds just like my hearing aids, just like I remember hearing from my hearing aids. Just crisper and clearer and louder than my hearing aids and I'm glad I choose it. But I wasn't born hearing and wore hearing aids since I was a toddler. So I can't really tell what a CI kid will experience.
 
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