ELI5 When deaf people that have never heard anything before get hearing, how do they understand English if they aren’t reading lips?
ELI5 When deaf people that have never heard anything before get hearing, how do they understand English if they aren’t reading lips?
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It would seem to me that it would be like hearing any language you don’t understand. Just because you can read and write it doesn’t mean you know how it sounds right?
I mean many people you see “get hearing” were not always deaf, but instead lost their hearing to some disease or event, which the aids/implants are able to circumvent. So they know English because they USED to be able to hear.
But you are right, for the people that have been 100% deaf their whole lives have to learn to speak from scratch, like a baby, learning how to make the sounds by shaping their mouths. So these people would yea have to read lips or read writing.
They don’t. They have to learn it the slow way.
To be more specific, ASL and ESL are not English or even dialects, they’re considered separate languages. Deaf people may be able to read in English, but they dont talk in English. So if one gains hearing, they’re basically learning a new language.
(They are also, of course, also learning what Everything Else sounds like at the same time. The experience is reportedly not fun)
I’ve never heard of a case of someone who was born completely deaf to get the ability to hear.
Unless it’s a very specific medical condition that can be treated or operated on, hearing loss is permanent.
You can improve people’s hearing using aides, but generally if you’re born deaf and have never heard a single sound, it’s almost certain that you’ll never be able to hear.
A lot of people are considered legally deaf. They have some hearing but are unable to hear certain letters (usually vowels).
Just to add to what’s already been said, the most advanced cochlear implants can only transmit a few hundred frequencies at any given time. A healthy human on the other hand can hear around 15,000 to 20,000 frequencies. Even if you had healthy hearing before going deaf, after getting a cochlear implant you’d still have a bit of learning curve with understanding what you’re hearing.