Do You Talk Louder To People That Are Deaf?

Volume is not the problem for many of us deaf folks. It's understanding words clearly. Hearing aids will amplify but not make words more distinct.

 

I'm a louder person than my wife is, but a lot of that comes from where I've worked. Machine Shops, warehouses. Some jobs employees had to wear safety glasses and hearing protection. Out in the shop, an employee had to pretty much yell at each other to hear each other. In any of the military services, unless in an office environment, soldier, sailors, airmen and marines have to yell/raise their voice to be heard. And, don't even ask how loud an Army or Marine Drill Sargent can get in training camp.

Whereas my wife, working in an office environment most of her employment life, never had that. She has a pretty much "low keyed/normal" voice.

Now, today, I have to have my hearing aids in, in order to hear what people are saying to me. Yea, my hearing is about shot and so is my wife.

 

If someone says "what?" after I tell them something, I do tend to speak louder when I repeat. My little MIL is deaf in one ear so it seems to help if we talk louder to her.

 

That's for sure

 

Unless someone is known to be totally deaf, I believe most people tend to talk louder. I certainly do because I do not want someone who can’t hear a normal talking voice to be left out of a conversation, get frustrated or misled.

Now, the real laughable ones are the folks who yell to a person of a different language as if yelling takes the place of a translator.

 

i am also deaf in one ear-i have a habit of talking loud thinking the other person cant hear--but if people arent facing me when we talk i cant understand what they are saying

 

Which brings up another point.
Some folks with hearing problems will speak louder because they can’t hear themselves. I had some temporary hearing problems after an explosion and found out I was talking louder than normal. I could hear my head voice but not the vocal >auditory volume.

 

One of my uncles had been a mariner all his life. He always worked in the engine room. That was never a problem with his wife because she was hard of hearing. Then she had a stapedectomy and when he came home next time every time he talked she cried because he had always talked loud because of his work in the engine room.