I’m partially deaf, but that hasn’t stopped me from detecting a distinctive difference in the way different people sneeze.
Every sneeze has its own sound, and its own look. You could say every sneezer has their own distinctive Sneeze Signature.
Some people’s sneezes arrive as though they are deeply unexpected. An interruption. A shock.
Picture this: a Brian Blessed lookalike, sitting on a train. He’s reading his newspaper when suddenly his head jerks back, his arms fly in the air, and his hand – as if in slow motion – desperately tries to cover his mouth.
Then, as if it were a bullet fired from a gun: “AAAAH-CHOOOO!”
In a split second, his bearded chin hits his chest, his hands hit his thigh. His newspaper billows and floats up into the air. He looks around stunned, red faced.
Or, by way of contrast, picture a Joanna Lumley lookalike in a cafe. She’s talking on the phone when, as if by radar, she detects the mildest hint of something.
“Excuse me,” she says to her companion. She turns her head. A hankerchief daintily appears from her handbag. After a few calm seconds, it arrives, and we hardly even hear:
“ah-choo.”
Yet amid this diverse cast of sneezing characters, I’ve noticed that there’s one constant: that ah-choo sound.
Whether loud or quiet, brief or elongated, when people sneeze, their sneezes nearly always sound like they’re written on the page: Ah-choo.
Nearly always.
Because I’ve noticed something else. Something, if I’m frank, that’s a little disturbing. Hearing people tend to make the ah-choo sound, but Deaf people don’t.
Which begs the question: are hearing people faking it?
I don’t mean, of course, that, in an attempt to break up the day, hearing people lean back, look around the room and think: ‘Not much going on here. I know what I’ll do. I’ll have a little sneeze.”
No, in my view, the bit they’re faking, or exaggerating – like a footballer who bites his opponent then pretends he’s injured to distract the referee from what’s happened (yes, I’m talking about you Luis Suarez) – is the sound.
As they sense a sneeze coming, the hearing person’s brain sends out an alert saying: ‘EMERGENCY! YOU ARE ABOUT TO SNEEZE. IN PUBLIC. MAKE THIS SOUND NORMAL.’ And, in a split second, they add SFX: Ah-choo.
Now, before I prompt another Facebook controversy, I’m not saying that Deaf sneezes sound radically different to a hearing sneeze. That we’re ‘Sneezing Impaired’ or anything like that.
Or that, while a hearing person’s sneezes sound like ‘ah-choo,’ a deaf person’s sneezes sound freakily different, like ‘choo-Ah!’
They don’t.
But they do sound and look – at least to my bog-standard NHS hearing aids and my short sighted eyes – more natural than hearing sneezes.
To me, deaf sneezes sound more like this: a heavy breath as the deep pre-sneeze breath is taken, then a sharper, faster sound of air being released as the sneeze occurs.
There’s none of this ‘aahhh’ sound added as they breathe in. And none of that ‘choo’ malarkey as said sneeze is released.
No need.
Why don’t deaf people modify the sound? Well, perhaps obviously, it’s because deaf people can’t hear their own sneezes (or at least, can’t hear them as well). They don’t hear other people’s sneezes either. There is no concept of difference, of social awkwardness, of wanting to fit in.
A sneeze is what it should be – something that just happens.
You may be wondering how I, a partially deaf person, sneeze. The truth is perhaps a tad predictable – I’m a bit of both.
At home, I sneeze like a deaf person: naturally. Always have done.But sometimes, in public, in hearing places, I now realise, at 31 years of age, that I modify. I add the ah-choo.
I’m a bit ashamed of it, if I’m honest, but I reckon it all goes back to being at hearing school and wanting to fit in.
But as of today, I’m trying to change. I want to sneeze organically again, like my deaf friends do. Like my parents do. Like everyone down at the deaf club does.
So I say to other sneeze modifiers reading this: stop holding yourself back. Stop feeling restricted when you sneeze and let it happen naturally.
Sneeze as deaf people do.
That’s Charlie’s view. But do you agree? If you think he’s barking (or sneezing) up the wrong tree, or if you’re a hearing person who sneezes naturally, or for that matter, a deaf person who’s learned the hearing way and fakes it, just let us know, below!
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jlmerrow
April 30, 2013
Totally faking it. When I lived in Germany for a while, people there sneezed “Ah-chEE!”
Editor
April 30, 2013
Amazing! I wonder what sound other nationalities make?
So
May 21, 2013
In France it’s “ah-choom”, although it’s more polite to actually not make a sound at all by “blocking” your sneeze at the end. Make the littlest of sound by sneezing is considered utterly rude by French people…
Nele
April 30, 2013
Oh, yes, that’s so true. I’m German myself and it’s exactly sounds like you described!
Andy not Mr Palmer but another one
April 30, 2013
Let me give you some advice. Never stand in front of a horse when it sneezes.
Editor
April 30, 2013
They don’t fake it? 😉
Robert Mandara
April 30, 2013
I suffer from hay fever and sneeze more than most but I have never before given this a moment’s thought. Now that you mention it, I think there may be some truth in your idea. However, it could also be that deaf people are deliberately suppressing the ah-choo noise. When I talk I never know how loud my voice is and, likewise, I don’t know how loud my sneezes are. In both cases, I don’t want to make a spectacle of myself or disturb people by talking or sneezing too loud. In future I shall pay much more attention to whether sneezes are organic or orgasmic in nature.
Editor
April 30, 2013
Orgasmic? That’s a whole new idea!
EhWhat Huh
April 30, 2013
Now I am going to be super self conscious about how I sneeze in public. I wonder if I make an ‘achoo’ sound?
JK
April 30, 2013
Who sneezes the most natural sneeze of all? A baby with a mouth full of cereal.
Andy not Mr Palmer but another one
April 30, 2013
I know I have done a loud one when the cat jumps up in the air and streaks out the door.
I sometimes get sinus irritation caused by dust. My children tell me that my record is eight sneezes in a row. They actually count them!
Hiccups
April 30, 2013
You got me thinking but I think we sneeze the same! so I asked my interpreter who says that she thinks that people sneeze the same but for her deaf people sneeze in perfect sounds like a hearing person regardless of their speech or voice ability!!
mmm! be interested to see the other views
Maria Redwood
April 30, 2013
I’m hearing and have never been aware of deliberately producing any sort of sound when I sneeze. The noise that comes out depends on how big the sneeze is, whether or not I’m eating/drinking or have a cold at the time…uuurrrgggghhhhhh. Maybe it’s more to do with how self conscious you are as an individual. I do find it irritating when people try to surpress a sneeze and produce a strange “back of the nose” noise. I never supress a sneeze…there’s something very satisfying about a big sneeze and I always smile after sneezing.
deaflinguist
April 30, 2013
I’ve been totally deaf for over 30 years and I’ve always ah-CHOOed, though I suspect I’m one of the sneeze modifiers. I used to be plagued by hay fever at exam time and during my university finals sneezed a couple of times. Obviously in the circumstances I was mindful of not disrupting anyone’s train of thought, and thought I’d succeeded when a friend said afterwards: “It was really sweet the way you were suppressing your sneezes” – but when I realised that she had been at the other end of a vast hall, it must have been louder than I’d thought. Still, my efforts must have been recognisably audible. *chuckles*
Julia C
April 30, 2013
Mine tend to be a sort of quiet Huhh-Thhhh sound. I’m hearing, I only ever do proper dramatic sneezes when i’m looking for spousal sympathy! 🙂
Aliya
April 30, 2013
This is a such a fantastic article! Love it, shall be watching deaf & hearies when they sneeze with eagle eyes. On a sidenote, has anyone ever done fake sneezes just for the fun of it? It’s absolutely great – and you can modify your sneezes all the time, though I suspect to the trained ear, they can probably tell its fake!
Linda Parkin
April 30, 2013
I’m hearing (well less so now) and had hay fever when I was learning to drive. My instructor taught me when I felt a sneeze coming on: open eyes, open mouth, and press your tongue against the roof of your mouth. That way you don’t explode and lose control of the car, but it does come out “tishhhhhhhh”. And yes, I’ve had comments about it – maybe I should start saying “achoo” like everyone else?
nathan
April 30, 2013
people have commented how loud my sneezes are (im profoundly deaf) and people have commented on the “way” I sneeze so I guess there is something there.
Oh, do deaf people “breathe” differently to hearing people? I have been told I breathe too “heavily”…
oh well!
Eloise
May 1, 2013
I seem to miss out the ‘ah’ bit on mine and kind of do a ‘choo,’ though it comes out more like chah. If there is an ‘ah’ then I can’t hear it because it will be me just breathing in before the sneeze sound. 😛
David Wycherley
May 3, 2013
Nothing fake about it! Organic or orgasmic, its much more simple than that. It all depends whether it’s a ‘Profound Sneeze’l, a ‘Severe Sneeze’, or Mild or Moderate one. The Profound or ‘Brian Blessed’ version is of course the all time classic. It should always be capitalised “Sneeze” or “Ahhh-choo” because of course it refers to the community of sneezers across the UK. The ‘Severe, Moderate and Mild’ sneezes of course depend on your background and upbringing.
Then of course there are the regional variations to be aware of; for example the London Cockney rhyming slang sneeze “Our Shoe”; the Scottish “Och -choo”; the Welsh “Ah Cwww” etc.
I feel there is opportunity for some research to be carried out here with the possibility of a PhD and/or a Nobel Prize waiting for the proud publisher.
John
May 20, 2013
I wonder whether there is a difference in vocal chord tension – caused by different attempts to suppress the noise of the sneeze?
Ironically I’ve *just* sneezed (whilst typing the above) and there was a slight “aah”, but it was after the real breath in – completely involuntary.
(PS – I’m hearing)
Sarah
May 20, 2013
This is really interesting! Do you think the same goes for yawning?
Andy not Mr Palmer but another one
May 21, 2013
You can yawn in French??
Marney Evans
July 13, 2013
When I sneeze it is absolutely, completely silent. In fact, if you were sitting close to me you would not even know I sneezed unless you were looking straight at me. And I usually do it four or five times. It is not something that I really think about controlling. My BF laughs and says I should not do it but that is just the way it comes out. I’m hearing by the way.
homesteadergal
November 5, 2016
your boyfriend is right…. it is not good to suppress sneezes, especially to that extent.
nk
August 8, 2013
Ther is no question that what you say when you sneeze is learned- In Israel, people sneeze upchee- not achoo. Many Israeli girls try to sneeze silently, and suppress their sneezes. I have never noticed the way adeaf person sneezes till now, but I will start paying attention.
lauraleeauthor
August 12, 2013
It is possible that the “aah” part of the sneeze is something of an announcement to the other people around that a sneeze is about to happen to excuse the sneezer for suddenly dropping out of a conversation to close her eyes and blow air out of her nose. In other words, it might form a social function similar to “excuse me.”
Sally Strange (@SallyStrange)
August 13, 2013
I agree that sneezing is definitely partially a learned behavior, but I don’t think it’s accurate to say that hearing people are being “fake” when they sneeze in the way they’ve been socialized to. I think people learn to channel their sneezes into a typical set of phonemes at such a young age that they’re barely aware that it’s been learned at all, anymore than they’d be aware that their preference to eat pig meat rather than roast termites is a learned behavior.
I became aware of this phenomenon solely because my father sneezes in a really dramatic and silly way, like:
“aaaAAAHH-CHEEBIDIBISHOOBYDOOBYDOO!”
He actually does that. I’m pretty sure he only started doing it to annoy his kids, and then it became a habit for him. But that kinda clued me in to the fact that people’s sneezes differ quite drastically in terms of audio signature.
Andy. Not him, me.
August 13, 2013
I must say, the recent hot weather has tickled up my sinuses quite nicely. I’m prone to these sudden sneezes that shoot up out of nowhere. There’s no time for fancy coping strategies.
I feel it building up in my nose, that familiar tickle…. reach for a tissue …. CHOO!.
Now I have to clean the computer screen. Again.
Liliana
August 13, 2013
In Portugal is A-tchiiim!
Jonathan Downie
August 19, 2013
I am not sure what sound my sneeze makes but when I burp, I “baa” like a sheep.
Andy. Not him, me.
August 19, 2013
Sneezing occasionally has explosive effects in the most unexpected of orifices. Such is life.
Elisabeth McDermott
September 27, 2013
Why do they fake it??? I have different ways of sneezing – if it’s the sun triggering my sneeze it’ll be more like the way a cat sneezes, really short quick and “atchoo”! But if I’ve had a cold it’ll be the larger “expel the bugs” AH-CHOO variety!
Frankie
October 2, 2013
I don’t know if anyone has said this yet but I personally think its a learned behaviour. You grow up hearing the people around you doing things and pick it up. Deaf and partially deaf people would not hear those sounds and just sneeze naturally. Like you said… it is a habit ingrained in a lot of people. A stupid obnoxious habit! I have witnessed people literally yelling AHHHHH
Don G.
November 6, 2013
Funny — my dad (hearing) often sneezes loudly, and sounds like he’s going “choo-ah!”
Doug
December 12, 2013
I find it hurts me less to sneeze if I make some noise as I’m doing it – if I try and keep it quiet, I end up hurting myself (although my partner says that if I make the noise, I hurt her eardrums)
Lava
June 22, 2015
Im a hearing person. I dont fake my sneezes and I dont know anyone who does.
homesteadergal
November 5, 2016
I find it depends on the trigger and the intensity of the sneeze. In many people, the “ah” sound is simply the intake of breath, unless they actually say “ah”. No one I know actually says “ah”. I believe that the “choo” part is from people sneezing improperly. The sneeze is supposed to exit through the nose to clear the nasal passage, but most people divert the sneeze through their mouth, probably to avoid propelling snot everywhere (which is what the sneeze is SUPPOSED to do)! The biologically proper way to sneeze would be to let the body try to blow out the substances in the nasal passages. That seems impolite to many, so people divert and suppress sneezes, which is not good for you.