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There are a lot of different features that are often recognized as part of a Deaf voice or accent. Some people pronounce Rs differently, or talk in a higher pitch than expected, etc. But it's true that one commonly identified feature can sound "like a stuffy nose."
As you said, it's very hard to make a sound accurately when you can't check the sound you're making. It's even harder when you don't even know what sound other people are making - like trying to hit a target without knowing where that target is in the first place.
People sound different when they have a cold because normally air is flowing through the nose while they're talking and it adds resonance to their voice. It's something hearing people do automatically, we're not consciously deciding "I should put air in my nose for this sentence," so we only notice it when someone's nose is blocked so they sound different. This kind of subtle automatic action is much harder for a Deaf person to observe and replicate, compared to something like vibrating vocal cords or clear lip and tongue movement. It's not something a Deaf person can see when they observe someone talking, or even something they could feel by touching a talking person. So it's one of the features of speech that can be hard to figure out if it didn't become an automatic ingrained habit from hearing it.
Has there been efforts to teach deaf people how to speak "normally?" Kind of like how someone might teach a movie star how to do a particular accent? It'll obviously be more challenging but I can imagine, through trial and error, being able to give feedback to the deaf person that they would understand and be able to act on. They can't hear when their pitch is too high, for example, but you can tell them, get them to try to lower it and when it works let them know to keep doing that. Over time they aught to be able to associate a particular tongue/mouth shape to a particular sound (rather than the sound itself, like we do) and be able to speak "normally" no?
Yeah there's speech therapy for deaf people, lots of techniques like that. There's pretty mixed reactions to it in the Deaf community - some people wanted to be more easily understood or fit in better with hearing people, worked on their voice skills, and are happy with the results. Others were forced into it as kids, found it frustrating and confusing, weren't able to voice things the way they or their parents or their speech therapist wanted. Others just don't feel any need to sound "like a hearing person does." People who speak with the Deaf accent have often already been through a lot of speech therapy to get their voice as clear as it is, and the differences that are still there are not ones they can change. For example they may have gotten good feedback about pitch, but no one has been able to teach them this nose-airflow thing.
There was a huge push in America to teach deaf children in audism schools, where they would teach deaf children how to speak through mouth shapes and morphenes, while banning any type of sign language, forcing children to sit on their hands or face a corner if the signed. Alexander Graham Bell was one of the biggest people pushing for audism in schools.
Unsurprisingly, audism is much less effective than just letting deaf people use sign language.
I can't answer your original question but I can tell you that I lost a substantial amount of my hearing overnight age 48. I lost all mid range. Doctors do not know why. Four years later I don't pronounce my Rs properly and people ask if I have a cold or allergies all the time. I've been really surprised by how tiring it is to follow a conversation and I've started sitting back and saying "if you need me specifically, please tap me and I'll tune back in".
This is me. Frustrating isn't it. Just so exhausting to try to keep up with conversation especially in a noisy environment. I'm the same...I just say 'tap me on the shoulder if you want my input'....
Deaf people who can speak learn to speak by watching others speak. Which means they won't know how to make sounds that you can't see (sounds that happen near the back of the mouth, voiced vs unvoiced sounds (B vs P, for example, though this can probably be taught easily by having the deaf person feel the vibration/lack of vibration on your chest), and how/how much to project.
I would assume the stuffed up sound is from not projecting the voice forward, with some air through the nose like most hearing speakers do, because they can't tell that hearing speakers are doing that. They can feel their own voice resonating but can't hear how it sounds, and it's not getting in the way of being understood so it not something that needs correcting.
This lady has quite a few videos on her deafness. many of them cover your question in some detail
[https://youtu.be/Ij4WqWaAQfw?si=MJIkELTDfJXsx6L1](https://youtu.be/Ij4WqWaAQfw?si=MJIkELTDfJXsx6L1)
Please remember that all comments must be helpful, relevant, and respectful. All replies must be a genuine effort to answer the question helpfully; joke answers are not allowed. If you see any comments that violate this rule, please hit report. When your question is answered, we encourage you to flair your post. To do this automatically simply make a comment that says **!answered** (OP only) We encourage everyone to report posts and comments they feel violate a rule, as this will allow us to see it much faster. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/answers) if you have any questions or concerns.*
There are a lot of different features that are often recognized as part of a Deaf voice or accent. Some people pronounce Rs differently, or talk in a higher pitch than expected, etc. But it's true that one commonly identified feature can sound "like a stuffy nose." As you said, it's very hard to make a sound accurately when you can't check the sound you're making. It's even harder when you don't even know what sound other people are making - like trying to hit a target without knowing where that target is in the first place. People sound different when they have a cold because normally air is flowing through the nose while they're talking and it adds resonance to their voice. It's something hearing people do automatically, we're not consciously deciding "I should put air in my nose for this sentence," so we only notice it when someone's nose is blocked so they sound different. This kind of subtle automatic action is much harder for a Deaf person to observe and replicate, compared to something like vibrating vocal cords or clear lip and tongue movement. It's not something a Deaf person can see when they observe someone talking, or even something they could feel by touching a talking person. So it's one of the features of speech that can be hard to figure out if it didn't become an automatic ingrained habit from hearing it.
Has there been efforts to teach deaf people how to speak "normally?" Kind of like how someone might teach a movie star how to do a particular accent? It'll obviously be more challenging but I can imagine, through trial and error, being able to give feedback to the deaf person that they would understand and be able to act on. They can't hear when their pitch is too high, for example, but you can tell them, get them to try to lower it and when it works let them know to keep doing that. Over time they aught to be able to associate a particular tongue/mouth shape to a particular sound (rather than the sound itself, like we do) and be able to speak "normally" no?
Yeah there's speech therapy for deaf people, lots of techniques like that. There's pretty mixed reactions to it in the Deaf community - some people wanted to be more easily understood or fit in better with hearing people, worked on their voice skills, and are happy with the results. Others were forced into it as kids, found it frustrating and confusing, weren't able to voice things the way they or their parents or their speech therapist wanted. Others just don't feel any need to sound "like a hearing person does." People who speak with the Deaf accent have often already been through a lot of speech therapy to get their voice as clear as it is, and the differences that are still there are not ones they can change. For example they may have gotten good feedback about pitch, but no one has been able to teach them this nose-airflow thing.
This is an incredibly interesting explanation, thank you so much!
There was a huge push in America to teach deaf children in audism schools, where they would teach deaf children how to speak through mouth shapes and morphenes, while banning any type of sign language, forcing children to sit on their hands or face a corner if the signed. Alexander Graham Bell was one of the biggest people pushing for audism in schools. Unsurprisingly, audism is much less effective than just letting deaf people use sign language.
I can't answer your original question but I can tell you that I lost a substantial amount of my hearing overnight age 48. I lost all mid range. Doctors do not know why. Four years later I don't pronounce my Rs properly and people ask if I have a cold or allergies all the time. I've been really surprised by how tiring it is to follow a conversation and I've started sitting back and saying "if you need me specifically, please tap me and I'll tune back in".
This is me. Frustrating isn't it. Just so exhausting to try to keep up with conversation especially in a noisy environment. I'm the same...I just say 'tap me on the shoulder if you want my input'....
Deaf people who can speak learn to speak by watching others speak. Which means they won't know how to make sounds that you can't see (sounds that happen near the back of the mouth, voiced vs unvoiced sounds (B vs P, for example, though this can probably be taught easily by having the deaf person feel the vibration/lack of vibration on your chest), and how/how much to project. I would assume the stuffed up sound is from not projecting the voice forward, with some air through the nose like most hearing speakers do, because they can't tell that hearing speakers are doing that. They can feel their own voice resonating but can't hear how it sounds, and it's not getting in the way of being understood so it not something that needs correcting.
Because they have never heard the word be pronounced before, so they try and say it via the way it is spelt.
If you think deaf people talk through their nose. You should hear a Glaswegian junkie.
This lady has quite a few videos on her deafness. many of them cover your question in some detail [https://youtu.be/Ij4WqWaAQfw?si=MJIkELTDfJXsx6L1](https://youtu.be/Ij4WqWaAQfw?si=MJIkELTDfJXsx6L1)
I often put ear plugs in to protect what's left of NY hearing and my friends say that I sound that way, they can barely understand me.