Talk:Muteness

This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 5 January 2022 and 4 April 2022. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Ksonite (article contribs).

More focus on illness-related-muteness

I'd really like to see more information on muteness caused by throat infections, surgery for throat cancer, etc. It's not in any of the "variations". The only variations being unable to speak and move and being unable to speak due to psychological reasons. Also, a "treatment" section would be good. Such as corrective surgery (rare, but it's been done) or behavioral therapy, in the case of selective mutism. 98.217.230.157 (talk) 20:32, 3 June 2013 (UTC)

PSYCHOLOGICAL ROOTED MUTNESS

I just saw the other bit in this talk of muteness article and even then (april 2012) there was no mention, still today, of psychological caused inability to speak.

There is only mentioned of neurological/direct physically caused muteness. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 97.115.146.67 (talk) 04:48, 20 February 2014 (UTC)

Translation

The article contents translation from the hu:Némaság. Szalakóta (talk) 10:04, 14 October 2015 (UTC)

Causes

This section is very short and needs to be expanded on. I added more information as to the location of Broca's area. Chrissietheslp (talk) 01:12, 27 September 2016 (UTC)

The causes should not be divided under three headers. Currently the meaning of organic causes is unclear, autism spectrum disorder is mentioned twice and neurological damage is mentioned under organic instead of neurological causes. More though needs to be given to the structure of this page. 2 December 2022 — Preceding unsigned comment added by Wizard's Spellbook (talk • contribs) 14:49, 2 December 2022 (UTC)

I believe "Organic" refers to Organs, but would be better stated as "Biological" contributors to mutism, so as not to confuse with the quality of being organic. Thus, I will make a change to reflect this. Feel free to revert this if it goes against established standards elsewhere.

I'll make a separate edit trying to clarify the other causes, and possibly structure them differently, as you suggest. 192.77.12.11 (talk) 09:13, 26 December 2022 (UTC)

Add example: born deaf and cannot hear own voice

I suggest adding this line to the article under the explanation of causes of muteness, if others agree it's helpful and clear:

Definition: Anaudic refers to a person who does not speak or produce structured speech because they did not develop spoken language in early life, typically due to being born deaf and never hearing their own voice. Their voice-producing system (larynx and vocal cords) may be healthy, but speech was never formed due to the absence of auditory input.

Etymology: From Greek and Latin roots: • an- (Greek): “without” • aud- (Latin audire): “hearing” or “sound,” specifically speech-related • -ic (Greek/Latin): “related to”

Combined Meaning: “Related to being without sound,” especially speech-sound. In anaudic, aud- refers specifically to spoken sound, not just hearing. Because speech development depends on hearing one’s own voice, the term shifts aud- from passive hearing to the active production of speech.

Clarification: An anaudic person may still produce natural vocal sounds—such as laughing, yelling, or simple vocalizations—but they do not use structured spoken language. These sounds may be recognized by people who know them well, but are usually not understood by others outside that circle.

Their voice is not damaged—it is simply unused for speech.

Example: “I am anaudic due to congenital deafness. I can vocalize simple sounds or words that those close to me may recognize, but these sounds aren’t part of a full spoken language and may not be understood by others.”

I am Deaf myself. I can scream or make sounds, but I have not heard my own voice since birth. (Of course, I can feel my voice — but feeling and hearing are very different.) That’s why I suggest adding this phrase. I’m not adding it directly because I don’t want to upset anyone. Please feel free to include it if you think it fits. CFBancroft (talk) 23:21, 12 May 2025 (UTC)

@CFBancroft: Thanks for raising this issue. This may merit one sentence in the article. It's basically a definition of the word anaudic, so one sentence should suffice. Two points however: We need a reliable source. See WP:RS. The second point is more complex and likely would require more extensive explanation. In my experience with deaf people (including those who identify culturally as Deaf), most acknowledge that they can speak, but they choose not to speak for various reasons, including speech intelligibility and/or their feelings that they see no reason to speak. The thorny question occurs with the explanation for why the person is anaudic. For some (many?) people, congenital or prelingual deafness is not the direct cause of their muteness, but a contributing factor in their conscious decision not to speak. I'd like to avoid perpetuating the misconception that a deaf person is mute because of physiological problems in the mechanisms involved in speech. In my view, this is part of the euphemism treadmill that includes the terms "deaf and dumb" and "deaf-mute", which sadly I still hear people use. Like I said, it's complex. Sundayclose (talk) 13:56, 15 May 2025 (UTC)

I'm adding...

The terms "deaf and dumb" and "deaf-mute" are an incorrect terms anyway. Deaf persons are not mute. Muteness is the lack of ability to speak due to something wrong with the speech portion of the brain and/or with the vocal cords and muscles in the mouth and throat used for speaking. Deaf persons can speak IF they could only hear words spoken. Mute persons cannot speak at all, no matter what. 24.214.109.196 (talk) 23:21, 4 August 2025 (UTC)

As mentioned above, don't add anything of substance to the article without inline citations to a reliable source where readers can verify it all, please and thank you. Remsense 🌈 论 23:22, 4 August 2025 (UTC)

I added it to what was said here, in the Talk section, not to the article. Duh. 24.214.109.196 (talk) 15:03, 8 August 2025 (UTC)

@24.214.109.196 Thanks for clarifying what was a mere point of confusion and did not warrant uncivil quips like you've put at the end there. Once we find sources, anyone can add it to the article. --Komonzia (talk) 12:03, 9 August 2025 (UTC)

By the way, citations are not required in the Talk section. Duh. 24.214.109.196 (talk) 15:04, 8 August 2025 (UTC)

@Sundayclose @CFBancroft: You can provide feedback on my suggestion below:

People who are deaf since before acquiring language (either born deaf or become deaf before learning language) can experience atypical development of spoken language. Because of a lack of auditory feedback to guide speech, they may choose not to speak, or their speech may be less intelligible than that of hearing people. Importantly, even though some refer to this as deaf-muteness, this is not because they are inherently unable to speak due to being deaf. Some see the label "deaf-mute" as outdated and potentially derogatory, since that label implies a congenital inability to speak. Instead, whether or not a person speaks in these cases can depend on when deafness is detected and treated.

And I'm planning to use this as a source, taken from the article Deaf-mute:

• Moore, Matthew S. & Levitan, Linda (2003). For Hearing People Only, Answers to Some of the Most Commonly Asked Questions About the Deaf Community, its Culture, and the "Deaf Reality", Rochester, New York: Deaf Life Press.

Page 278 comes up when searching the 4th edition (year 2016) of the book on Google Books for the word "muteness".

We could also include this source:

• PMC 10814868 {{pmc}}: PMC format (link) Congenital Deafness and Deaf-Mutism: A Historical Perspective

It gives a quite detailed timeline about how deafness was first 'blamed' on mutism and the two being seen as one, then later on through the centuries defined in more detail.

Regarding the inclusion of anaudia I couldn't find much in the way of sources. The word Aphonia is more commonly used, to mean a physiological or neurological inability to produce voiced sound - people with aphonia by itself can still speak, as a whisper

How about that? Komonzia (talk) 14:01, 9 August 2025 (UTC)