The Talking Deafie

A family member of mine can speak through the phone. He's had the CI since he was 6-ish. However, I cannot talk on the phone. I've had the CI for only 2 years. I doubt it would happen with me. I am just too used to being deaf. ;)
 
Daredevel7 said:
A family member of mine can speak through the phone. He's had the CI since he was 6-ish. However, I cannot talk on the phone. I've had the CI for only 2 years. I doubt it would happen with me. I am just too used to being deaf. ;)
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With some practice you might. One thing you can do is take some auditory verbal therapy lessons. Cause I've had some lessons since I had my CI and could see the improvements in my speech comprehension skills when I first started and to the way we left off at some of the last sessions. I'm currently taking a break from it at the moment but may go back to it next year.
 
CI can be a lifetime auditory therapy if you make it to be. Or you can relax and don't expect perfection. This doesn't mean you should stop mapping though. That's my advice to you as a ci user since 2003.
 
I'm not sure if I have a "deaf accent" in the right sense of the word. Speech therapists and my parents strongly drilled me in proper pronunciation, to the point where I'm at the other extreme of stressing consonants too much and talking too fast. Or is that another flavor of deaf accents? haha

I'm a bit paranoid of people not understanding me, but it's not a problem usually. (Unless they're bluffing and I don't realize it?)
 
GrendelQ said:
My 4YO talks with me by cell phone, every day. With grandparents, we tend to use speaker phone, to avoid a lot of long distance repeating with HOH on the other end of the line.
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That nice for her talk to her grandparents. The only CI people I met are teens or older, I haven't met younger kids with CI. They probably more likely to use phone than teens.
 
HHIssues said:
With some practice you might. One thing you can do is take some auditory verbal therapy lessons. Cause I've had some lessons since I had my CI and could see the improvements in my speech comprehension skills when I first started and to the way we left off at some of the last sessions. I'm currently taking a break from it at the moment but may go back to it next year.
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I already do, once a week. I definitely see improvements. I can get by with a simple conversation without lipreading which is FAR more than I ever could do with HAs, but if you're talking about talking on the phone with a random person..... that's asking for a lot for someone who has been profoundly deaf since birth.
 
Daredevel7 said:
I already do, once a week. I definitely see improvements. I can get by with a simple conversation without lipreading which is FAR more than I ever could do with HAs, but if you're talking about talking on the phone with a random person..... that's asking for a lot for someone who has been profoundly deaf since birth.
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One thing that confuse me is that when I can understand a word from a person next to me, without lipreading, I can't pick up the same word on the phone. This happened to many of relatives. I can understand words when I talk to them personally, but just can't do it over the phone. I guess it is true, telephone is tinny.
 
Interesting, the phone may be what sets apart hoh/late deafened/ci users. I feel more like kind of an old man who has recently lost hearing when it comes to phone conversations with people who speak too softly. I've got to ask "what? can you repeat that?" usually to fast talking or quiet women, as it is in frequencies I am not good at.

But for all others, I've grew up somewhat profound (if unilateral counts) and always have had this applied to me as I grew up. Don't get me wrong as I am not fond of always using the phone.. but I can use it when necessary. I just find that I can't multitask as well as hearing do, even with a bluetooth adapter.

It may be that you are seeing the mouth shapes that help you determine the word. Over time of using the phone, like anything else, you get better at it.
 
Yes, I'm oral deaf with severe to profound loss. I can't really tell if I have a deaf accent, but friends tell me there's no real difference between my voice and everyone else's. I've never had any speech therapy so I think it's down to hearing aids + mainstream education.
 
Agreed with some point in there, Tsundre. I too never had any therapy or speech classes, the new audiologist I ran into not too long ago was shocked to have me. She asked how my speech was "so good", that I don't sound "like other deafs with my level of hearing loss". I said uh, I grew up oral and went to mainstream school.
 
deafgal001 said:
One thing that confuse me is that when I can understand a word from a person next to me, without lipreading, I can't pick up the same word on the phone. This happened to many of relatives. I can understand words when I talk to them personally, but just can't do it over the phone. I guess it is true, telephone is tinny.
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Hearing people have told me many times that voices over the phone are somewhat distorted. They said there is an obvious difference when a voice is done in the flesh and when it is done through electronics (phone, TV, speaker, etc.)

I wonder if the CI makes this difference even bigger? Or perhaps CI therapy and mapping is always done in real life and they rarely take the phone into account?
 
Daredevel7 said:
I already do, once a week. I definitely see improvements. I can get by with a simple conversation without lipreading which is FAR more than I ever could do with HAs, but if you're talking about talking on the phone with a random person..... that's asking for a lot for someone who has been profoundly deaf since birth.
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Yes, I could also see the difference whereas I'm hearing better with the CI than I did with the HA.
 
Daredevel7 said:
Hearing people have told me many times that voices over the phone are somewhat distorted. They said there is an obvious difference when a voice is done in the flesh and when it is done through electronics (phone, TV, speaker, etc.)

I wonder if the CI makes this difference even bigger? Or perhaps CI therapy and mapping is always done in real life and they rarely take the phone into account?
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FYI, sent you a pm to continue this discussion off thread.
 
That is interesting- a "deaf talkie" who never learn to talk. Most of us got "talking" from our parents. What is the secret?

Implanted Advanced Bionics-Harmony activated Aug/07
 
drphil said:
That is interesting- a "deaf talkie" who never learn to talk. Most of us got "talking" from our parents. What is the secret?

Implanted Advanced Bionics-Harmony activated Aug/07
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She said that she was sorry that she learned to talk in the first place.
 
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