The controversy between the oral and the total communication approach to deaf education is reviewed and a study of the use of acquired speech by 71 deaf adults in Nigeria is presented. Questionnaire results are discussed in terms of demographics, cause and age at onset of deafness, use of amplification, school achievement, type of employment, communication method used on the job, likeability, attractiveness, and speech intelligibility. Results are explained to show that although many had speech instruction, the majority did not rely on speech alone in social situations. (CL)