I wear two hearing aids because I have difficulty with certain frequencies and intonations, volume is not the issue. I’m having difficulty clearly picking out what is being said, the inflections and speed of reply and need to keep going back over the reply. I’ve tried different courses over the past few years and keep coming against the same problem. What help is there for the hearing impared to learn a language? Would I be better with a different course format? Would I be best taking two weeks for a lesson rather than a new one every week? I’ve had similar problems with learning to play jazz trumept with pitching and have had to find workarounds with my tutor. I am keen and committed to learning to speak Welsh.
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Hello Nigel.
I noticed your email since, like you, I have two aids. I am aware I can’t hear the difference in the higher consonants e.g.coat vote But am ok where the sound is different as the consonants are lower in pitch e.g. mat and bat. M and b are clear. So when it comes to Welsh it’s hard if not impossible to hear the difference say Bydd a or Fydda or dead or ddeud. So I have experienced the similar issue. I am now at a college at proficiency level - but can assure you that to learn through speaking and not over worrying about these differences. Many people don’t hear these as well! Learn speaking first and then when you have grasped that then think about going to a place where by understanding the rules of some grammar you will come to know quickly what’s what. It might help if you could buddy up with someone who can listen to the bits you don’t get and tell you. Further if your aids are NHS go back to your audiologist as modern aids can tune in the higher sounds more or like mine NHS they pick up sounds directly from my iPhone tablet etc. Some aids use Bluetooth, while others there are a wired connections. There are other options too like amplifiers that are tuned to your deafness profile.
Perhaps someone who hears well and at similar level can work with you… it does get easier but do not let deafness stop you. It can be done tho I admit there were the odd times when I could have chucked it all out of the window. I am thrilled that SSIW gave me such a good background and having completed then the 3 levels I found college life a breeze. So ‘dal Ati’ Persevere it’s really worth it
Regards sandra
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Welcome to SSiW and the forum, Nigel. I’d like to respond as a physicist as well as a fellow learner.
You have highlighted your response to certain frequencies as an obstacle to making out what is being said. Forgive me if you know much of the following, but let me suggest
1 Make sure you are using the best sound reproduction system you can afford. This will mean that the inevitable losses of quality between the speakers voice and your ears are kept to a minimum.
2. If you can identify the frequencies that are attenuated in your hearing, think about compensating for these using software such as the (free) Audacity. You may well know that consonants such as t, d, k, b, g and p (the “plosives” or “transients”) require sound systems capable of reproducing very high frequencies.
3. If you have contact with your hearing aid supplier, you could try explainigng your specific issues with learning from recordings and they may able to advise.
If you are already aware of all the “technical fixes”, you can still make use of your pause button to give yourself time to interpret what you have just heard.
I admire your commitment to learning Welsh and believe that SSiW with its support forum is well placed to help you realise your aims.
Good liuck
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Nigel, I can’t add anything other than point out a previous thread where hearing difficulties have been discussed before (and which contains reference to yet another thread within it):
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I have no particular experience in this topic but I have a couple of ideas that may or may not help.
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Could you possibly start with the Bedtime Welsh series that is currently running on Youtube? As they use similar content, but are in video content, you get the added benefit of being able to see and copy @aran 's mouth shapes which may help give you a boost.
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Another thought is to learn Welsh phonics extremely well. The SSiW premise is excellent (hear and speak before you read) but when you can’t actually hear the words, then the premise kind of breaks down. Could you use Welsh phonics resources designed for children that may have higher quality audio (I have seen several free apps) to learn each sound thoroughly and then go against the normal SSiW ‘rules’ and use the vocab lists etc. while you complete the challenges. I wouldn’t suggest that usually but there is a difference when you are actually struggling to hear the sounds!
Hope you find a solution soon!
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Just to say i have been very successful in learning several languages despite being Deaf totally without the aids i have. I totally empathise with you both. Tips i included in my reply to Nigel. Like everyday speech it is mainly llain refusal to give up and just go for it! Keep at it and it will happen… Aran suggests how best to tackle the work, i followed this and didnt stop to agonise over any oart and sure enough it worked. Hearing aids - the right ones, can help a lot and sometimes you may need to insist your audiologist resolve the issues at least in part ‘cos they can ! I would not look elsewhere just battle in with Ssiw as you are and find a buddy… plenty of folk out there will help you via skype even.
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Thank you @sandrahulland but I wasn’t meaning to imply that I had any major hearing difficulties, I was simply pointing out a previous thread which I thought Nigel might find helpful to read. You have to open that thread to see who is speaking. Well done to you for managing to learn several languages, that’s a great achievement.
Re chats, I regularly use Welsh Speaking Practice on Slack and have chatted to a good range of people on there now. Would it be worth trying for you?
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Thank you to everyone for this very helpful information, I did think at one point yesterday that I was alone with this issue, and I am most grateful for the constructive support. Two tasks for me:
1 keep ploughing on and going back over lesson material
2 when I can, I’ll make an appointment with the hearing aid team at Singleton Hosp for a ‘retuning’ adujstment of my hearing aids
Regards - Nigel
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I’ll make an appointment with the hearing aid team at Singleton Hosp for a ‘retuning’ adujstment of my hearing aids
Syniad gwych / great idea
Good luck again
Huw
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