Soft Talkers (how many, buying, phone, accents)

[Rcm58]

Ok I know Seinfeld did a skit on this but :

My sister calls me up and then whispers over the phone and I have to keep saying, I didn't understand or excuse me, she will say something and then after a long pause I say, I can barely here you and she talks ok for a few then nothing, its like shes falling asleep talking to me, My wife refuses to talk to her so I know its not just me but I think shes trying to make me mental. Is this common?

[fuzzymystic]

If she's talking on a regular(not cell) phone, try telling her to put the phone up to her mouth when she talks. Some people kind of stick it down by their chin and it's hard to hear them. If she is talking ok, then starts getting quieter again, the phone might be kind of drifting downward. This was the case with somebody I used to talk to, anyway.

[agreatlife]

sorry, I couldn't get that. what?

[tet tea]

I absolutely hate it when people do that on and off the phone! It drives me nutz, since I am a little hard of hearing in my left ear. When I politely ask people if they wouldn't mind repeating whatever they said, they sometimes get a little shirty with me, even when I explain that I don't hear too well. Excuse me for getting a virus that affected my hearing!

[Tek_Freek]

I'M HARD OF HEARING. I HAVE NO CHOICE, IT'S GENETIC. IF YOU CAN'T BE CONSIDERATE ENOUGH TO SPEAK A LITTLE LOUDER AND A TAD SLOWER TO ME THEN SHUT UP.

Is where I've ended in my quest to continue understanding the world around me.

IF YOU THINK YOU'RE FRUSTRATED TRYING TO TALK TO ME YOU, YOU SHOULD TRY HEARING YOU WHEN YOU MUMBLE.

One of these days you'll be hard of hearing, too. I'll be laughing my butt off when it's your turn.

As for the OP. If you can't understand her, don't respond. When she finally asks (loud enough for you to hear - and she will, believe me) tell her that you couldn't hear her and got tired of asking her to speak up so you just decided not to respond to what you can't hear.

Drop it back on her. Sooner or later she'll figure it out. People usually get tired of talking if no one is listening.

Buying hearing aids was interesting. Paid a fortune for them and found that in quiet settings they were nice. In any area where there was noise they sucked. Everything was so loud I couldn't stand it. Besides it didn't fix the problem: When I'm in a noisy environment I can hear someone across the room, but not the person sitting right next to me. Hearing aids made it possible for me to hear more people across the room, but not the person next to me.

[AksarbeN]

It might be that she’s using a poor quality phone altogether, or even the service to her home is not performing adequately? You might want to compare someone else using the same phone and service first and if this proves defective replace or repair as needed.

[Northwoods Voyager]

Originally Posted by fuzzymystic

If she's talking on a regular(not cell) phone, try telling her to put the phone up to her mouth when she talks. Some people kind of stick it down by their chin and it's hard to hear them. If she is talking ok, then starts getting quieter again, the phone might be kind of drifting downward. This was the case with somebody I used to talk to, anyway.

I have a very close relative that does this. When reminded he will put the 'phone back near his lips, but, sure enough, downward the thing goes and we start all over. I just remind him every once in awhile. Yes it is frustrating.

[cottonwood2420]

My mom does that all the time. I have to keep telling her to speak up so I can understand what she is saying. She even talks low on her voicemail message and you can barely hear her voice. Her hearing is fine, so that isn't the problem. It is very annoying!

[Karla with a K]

I can honestly say I have never been accused of talking to soft. I guess you could say I have a "big voice" I studied voice for a few years and found the projection part of the class came very naturally to me.

Tek & tet I ran into a couple of interesting situations over the years.
Way back when I lived in NJ my boyfriends mother also suffered hearing loss though she never had a problem hearing me when she wasn't wearing her hearing aids.
Now the 84 yr old gentleman that lives across the street from me wears hearing aids but has told me I am one of the few folks he can hear without them.
I always had a feeling it had to do with the tone of a persons voice. I happen to have a low tone to my voice.

A couple years ago my Uncle told me about his trip to have his hearing checked.
For years his wife told him "you don't hear what I say,your having a hearing problem go get your ears checked"
When he came home she said "well, was I right,what did the Dr say?"
Now my Uncle who has a great sense of humor told her
"The Dr said my hearing was fine,it is just you I can't hear"
He was messing with her but the problem was she has a high pitch tone to her voice and as you get older it becomes harder to hear higher pitch tones.
lol he told her "you just need to start sounding like Lauren Bacall and we won't have anymore problems

[Tek_Freek]

Originally Posted by Karla with a K

I can honestly say I have never been accused of talking to soft. I guess you could say I have a "big voice" I studied voice for a few years and found the projection part of the class came very naturally to me.

Tek & tet I ran into a couple of interesting situations over the years.
Way back when I lived in NJ my boyfriends mother also suffered hearing loss though she never had a problem hearing me when she wasn't wearing her hearing aids.
Now the 84 yr old gentleman that lives across the street from me wears hearing aids but has told me I am one of the few folks he can hear without them.
I always had a feeling it had to do with the tone of a persons voice. I happen to have a low tone to my voice.

A couple years ago my Uncle told me about his trip to have his hearing checked.
For years his wife told him "you don't hear what I say,your having a hearing problem go get your ears checked"
When he came home she said "well, was I right,what did the Dr say?"
Now my Uncle who has a great sense of humor told her
"The Dr said my hearing was fine,it is just you I can't hear"
He was messing with her but the problem was she has a high pitch tone to her voice and as you get older it becomes harder to hear higher pitch tones.
lol he told her "you just need to start sounding like Lauren Bacall and we won't have anymore problems

Bingo! "A high range hearing loss" is how mine is described.

I have been on the phone a total of 10 hours with tech support over the last two days, and the system I'm working on still doesn't work. The majority of the support people were from either India or Pakistan. I lost count of how many times I asked them to repeat what they said or to slow down when they talk. If they talk fast all I hear is one long sound, no individual words in a sentence.

I finally called the non-tech side of the company (after the last tech hung up on me) and told them that if they didn't have someone without an accent I could talk to they were going to lose all the business from my client. 20 minutes of hold time put me in touch with someone in Tampa Florida. Still an accent, but I understood the majority of what she said.

I think companies are going to get a rude awakening over the next few years. I envision web sites devoted to companies that do, or don't, use tech support personnel with heavy accents. I, for one, won't buy their products if I know they farm it out overseas, or even keep it in the US, but hire foreigners that have an accent. As we all get older there will be a shift away from companies that won't provide our needs, and this is going to be the next problem they face