Why might conductive hearing loss cause a person to speak quietly?

In the context of speech disorders, it is a common misconception that conductive hearing loss causes an individual to speak quietly because they cannot hear their own voice. In reality, the opposite is true: individuals with conductive hearing loss often speak quietly because their internal hearing remains intact.1

Because the neural structures responsible for hearing are not damaged in conductive hearing loss, the person can hear their own voice quite well through bone conduction—the transmission of sound via the vibration of the skull. Since they perceive their own voice as loud, they tend to keep their speech subdued. This contrasts with sensorineural (or neural) hearing loss, where nerve dysfunction impairs the perception of one's own voice, often leading the individual to speak in an overloud or screeching manner.21