Does a deaf person actually hear the words in their head when people sign to them?

Question

For the sake of arguement, let's say said deaf person has been deaf his/her whole life.

Ok, so when you sign to them, what do they imagine in their head? Like, if you sign 'Timothy'

Answer 1

Signs are not words, signs are not specifically English.
Signs are iconic, that is, they represent a concept.
The deaf person doesn't hear the word for the sign, they see/imagine the picture or idea of what is represented by the sign.

If you fingerspell "Timothy" then the English letters that form the word Timothy will represent Timothy in the persons head, not the word or sound but the picture of Timothy.

Answer 2

Signs and sounds are incomparable. Compare signs and text for a more accurate analogy. And since most signs are not phonetic spellings but whole images, most sign languages are more like pictographic languages such as Chinese or ancienty Egyptian.

The symbols have meaning, and sound is the same as a symbol. If you compare the words tough and rough, whether written or spoken, it is not the sounds or letters within the words that give them meaning. The choice of "t" or "r" does not change the definition; rather, it is the whole, the combination of sounds - on in the case of sign language, the fingers - that are ascribes to a concept.

We associate text and sounds to words, that does not mean it is the single right way to do something. With an idea attributed to a specific combination of sounds or letters, anything can have whatever meaning you wish it to.

Read Lewis Carroll's "Jabberwocky" to see what I mean.

http://www.jabberwocky.com/carroll/jabber/jabberwocky.html

> `Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
> Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
> All mimsy were the borogoves,
> And the mome raths outgrabe.

By the way, sign languages DO have an alphabetic set which can be learnt and used to spell words; however, it is far quicker to use the symbolic gestures in communicating.

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Answer 3

There has been some research that shows that the same area of the brain that processes speech/language in the brain (broca's area, werner's area) will 'light up' during a PET scan when a deaf person signs or reads signs. ASL and other sign languages are therefore language. I would imagine that a deaf person may 'feel' the word in their head/body the same way I 'hear' words in my head.
So persons born deaf learn language--the language they learn (with a culture/grammar/syntax etc.) is a language of movement, gesture and experssion (facial/body) rather than sound.

Answer 4

None whatsoever. He had no experience, his sensory nerves for hearing were inactive his whole life and his brain, thus, could not associate any sounds or gestures as he has no memory of having or ever experiencing what a sound frequency is like. Thus he is unable to register anything or any sound.

I guess if u sign to them they just associate your sign gesture with a face, the face of timothy, or gesture to eat, then they would know that it means to eat. They are normal in terms of associating actions with identifying what it means. They have seen and watch, thus are able to view images in their heads too. Just that they dont hear you.

Answer 5

well, ask yourself this...How can a deaf person HEAR a word? So naturally ..No. Now..if Deaf person wears a hearing-aids or cochlear implant or both then yes they can hear words in their head. I know this for a fact...I am Deaf with hearing aid and cochlear implant.
=)

Answer 6

No, because a deaf person never heard the sound so the person is not able to grasp the concept of what a sound is.

Another example, blind people never saw colors, so the person is not to visualize what is color only able to define what the colors mean.

Answer 7

I always wondered this too. Because I hear my thoughts in my head. Just like when a blind person thinks of things. Do they see images when they dream. Do they dream. Or is it black and just noise? Wow that is a tripped out question. Kudos!

Answer 8

no.

Just like a person who spoke english their whole life does not hear spanish words in their head when someone is talking english to them, a person who has spoken sign language their whole life does not hear spoken words when they see the signed ones.

Answer 9

the way change into explaned to me change into. They hit upon a thanks to understand words because the intending to issues. So its a pass between pictures and basically words as symbols. yet even as interpreting for excitement they visualize a signed communique.

Answer 10

Not all deaf people are totally deaf, most have some hearing, so many will hear some sounds.