When I first stopped wearing my Hawley retainers during the day I sounded the same as the first day I had them! It went away after a couple of days, though, only wearing them at night.

I stopped wearing my activators some years ago. But if i will sound clear at the phone, mostly i put an activator in.

Activator for talking clearly? Sounds odd, for how long did you wear the thing to be able to do that? With the retainers I could actually image it working if you wear them 24/7.

Just wondering if anyone here who has, or has previously had retainers finds that they have learnt to speak more clearly with them than without them?

Hi retained,

sounds like me . I do have a slight little lisp, which truly does get a slight little bit better by use of my retainers, because my tongue needs to move a little less to pronounce s-sounds.

After a while of wearing my retainers 24 / 7 i started feeling uncomfortable without them, actually having the sound of a retainer lisp or "retainer pronunciation" exactly when they were not in... A reverted retainer lisp one could say. Of course it regularly disappears after a short while.