Any Members Born Deaf? Question

Hi all,
Are there any members here that were born deaf? Or have family or friends who were that you could ask?
I have a question.

When people read, we generally hear a voice in our heads. When we watch a TV show or movie with subtitles, we often hear the actors voice in our head if it's familiar. If not, sometimes it's just a "generic" voice, or another which is familiar - sometimes it's our own.
But what if you've never heard a voice, even your own?
I know many people are not born deaf, or are less than 100% deaf, or sensitive to vibrations.
However I'd like to hear from people who have never heard a voice.

My question is, when you read, do you hear a voice? Is it your own? If not, who's?
And if not at all, if it's something else, that would be interesting to hear about as well.

Thanks!

a reply to: KAOStheory
Interesting question!
We all have that inner voice, but what if you've never heard speech? Do they hear themselves think like we do?

a reply to: KAOStheory

Just going to mention that not every human being is a verbal thinker. Some autistics are visual thinkers. I'm a visual thinker and it actually takes an effort to create a voice in my head. I think in pictures.

I ever wanted to know what born-blind people dreams. They dream only "sensations" or images to? I ever wanted to know too

a reply to: WhiteAlice

hhmmm... whats that like?

originally posted by: WhiteAlice
a reply to: KAOStheory

I'm a visual thinker and it actually takes an effort to create a voice in my head. I think in pictures.

Thats the wifi your picking up

a reply to: VoidHawk

Its a vibrations not a sound. My grandparents were both deaf, Grandpa was born deaf and Grandma lost her hearing during a war. Grandma did hear a bit with hearing device and Grandpa sensed the vibrations. I believe he also had some kind of 6th sense and he always knew if i was being mischievous.
What comes to reading we imagine the voices so i believe born deaf imagine the vibrations. Deafs can hear loud sounds when those are over 100db but the sounds they hear they can´t recognize, it's more like a solid continuous sound which has no highs or lows in tone.

a reply to: dollukka

That makes sense. Though for hearing people thinking in vibrations seems quite...alien! But the voices we hear are just vibrations too.

I wonder what its like to suddenly be able to hear after...30 years of being 100% deaf?

a reply to: KAOStheory

"My question is, when you read, do you hear a voice? Is it your own? "

How could they tell if theyve never heard any voice, let alone their own......So you ask "Is it your own?" How the heck are they supposed to know???

a reply to: dollukka

i guess that makes sense. sound is vibrations which send waves into the air. A tone at 100db would be felt in the air, and any object you were touching, even the ground. i don't think he would really hear it in the traditional sense though. not if he didn't have the right parts.

I was really interested in this question when you posted it, so i brought some stuff back.

answers.yahoo.com...

It seems that it depends on how they are taught to communicate with other hearing folks.
i actually couldn't find any scientific articles about it.

a reply to: mysterioustranger

Thanks to all for the replies! But since you asked, i'll reply here -
well when you talk, you feel it in your chest, the vibrations. Even people born deaf talk sometimes, and would hear it inside their head, possibly.

a reply to: Woodcarver

nice find, thanks!
i personally don't know any deaf people to ask, but i didn't think of yahoo answers lol.
thanks again!

a reply to: Woodcarver

Not all deafs even they are offered a hearing device want to use them. When deafs are communicating with each others, they use sign language, but in "norms life " there is not many who can talk with sign language. Movie industry doesn´t use sign language in movies, and it would only depend on how much sign language is actually used in daily lives to imagine voices as those.

a reply to: dollukka

very interesting, thanks!
well i know all about vibrations, i work in vibro-acoustic therapy.
i think they could tell the difference in pitch if it was done right - and i plan to
make some vibration only music and find out!

originally posted by: Woodcarver
a reply to: WhiteAlice

hhmmm... whats that like?

Quiet most of the time? lol. It's most stark when I'm listening to someone as my brain will basically conjure up visual images that represent what's being said. If you say "church", the first thing that pops into mind is an image of a white steepled church and then its interior along with the various other "churches" I've gone to from churches in Europe (usually stained glass window images or the view to the altar), the dome from the inside of the Vatican, then the memory of my basically hightailing it out of an US church as I was in the process of vomiting (flu--not possession) to my grandfather's funeral (the last time I was in a church) interspersed with old dudes in robes and popes. That's "church" to me and it's highly symbolic. When I write something, I typically have to force the narrator in my head to read it back or, if I'm lazy, I'll read it aloud. If I don't do these things, my words actually can come out jumbled when I write (nearly every edit I do is because of jumbling or completely wrong words being put in for no apparent reason).

Even when I have a ingrained mental memory of somebody's speech (mental tape), it's still largely visual. "Don't swing your purse in the glass aisle" is something my mother said to me a bzillion times and when I go into a glass aisle, I do recall her voice (and often mimic) "don't swing your purse in the glass aisle" while basically drawing up visual memories of me walking through a glass aisle and grasping my purse to keep it from swinging. That's pretty automatic.

From what I understand, all babies are visual thinkers and basically learn neuro-linguistic thinking as they grow older and adopt language. Could explain some of the speech stunting that happens with some autistics. For whatever reason, that doesn't always develop with autistics and the deaf are kind of similar as they are visual but may adopt sign thinking (basically visualizing sign language). Both visual and neuro-linguistic thinkers still develop symbolic thinking but the visual ones rely on it more.

I think probably the big difference between a hearing visual thinking autistic and a deaf person would most likely be sound generation in the brain in general. Whereas I might not think in words, I frequently have music kick on instead to replace thoughts or feelings so it's not always silent. Basically I recall music or lyrics that echo a sentiment I'm feeling. Probably not the case for those born deaf.

Old paper on visual imagery in deaf children that's now freely available (with login though):

Anticipatory Visual Imagery in Deaf and Hearing Children

originally posted by: WhiteAlice
a reply to: KAOStheory

Just going to mention that not every human being is a verbal thinker. Some autistics are visual thinkers. I'm a visual thinker and it actually takes an effort to create a voice in my head. I think in pictures.

Do you ever find it difficult to get your point across? or to describe things properly with words?
I never knew there was such a thing.

i have a very strong inner dialogue, but i often find myself thinking in emotional terms too, like how i feel about a particular situation without thinking in terms of words or sentences. I was always told to think before i speak. As a result, i often find myself reciting, in my head, the words i want to present to others. I personally find this to be helpful in that i choose my words carefully.

I know that this is pretty common, but i can always tell when i'm speaking with someone who does not do the same thing. They tend to speak in very vague terms, like " Will you hand me that thing over there? " I then have to ask more questions to verify what they are talking about, which frustrates me and them.

a reply to: KAOStheory

OP, have you ever watched this? Totally amazing!
Evelyn Glennie: How to truly listen. She's deaf!

originally posted by: KAOStheory
a reply to: dollukka

very interesting, thanks!
well i know all about vibrations, i work in vibro-acoustic therapy.
i think they could tell the difference in pitch if it was done right - and i plan to
make some vibration only music and find out!

I have heard tales of deaf folks playing music and sitting on the speaker box to get the most from the sensation. I would also bet that if we searched hard enough we could find some music composed by deaf people. I wonder if they could tell the dif. I'm sure we could

originally posted by: Woodcarver
I would also bet that if we searched hard enough we could find some music composed by deaf people. I wonder if they could tell the dif. I'm sure we could

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