AN ACR AT45 FLC TURNED DOWN THE VOLUME CTLS AND WERE UNABLE TO HEAR ATC INSTRUCTIONS. LATER; THEY SLOWED DRAMATICALLY WITHOUT INFORMING THE APCH CTLR.

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OUR FLT DEPARTED GPT AT XA50Z. THE TKOF AND CLB UP TO CRUISE WAS UNEVENTFUL. AT 16000 FT MSL; I TOLD MY FO; MONITOR RADIO #1 WHILE I MAKE MY PA. HE SAID THAT HE HAD #1 RADIO. WE WERE TALKING TO ZHU AT THAT TIME. AFTER MY PA; MY FO AND I BEGAN TALKING. I HAD FORGOTTEN TO TURN MY VOLUME BACK UP AT THE TIME. UNKNOWING TO ME; MY FO NEVER HAD HIS VOLUME SWITCH TURNED UP TO A SUFFICIENT LEVEL. ABOUT 4-5 MINS LATER; WE REALIZED THAT OUR RADIO WAS NOT RECEIVING AND WE TURNED BOTH RADIO VOLUME SWITCHES TO A NORMAL LEVEL. CTR HAD BEEN TRYING TO REACH US AND HAD US CHANGE TO OUR NEXT FREQ. HE TOLD US THAT THE NEXT CTLR WANTED TO SPEAK WITH US. WE CHANGED FREQ AND CHKED ON WITH HOUSTON. THEY DIDN'T HAVE ANYTHING TO SAY EXCEPT 'ROGER.' WE CONTINUED OUR FLT AS FILED. ABOUT 1 HR LATER DURING THE APCH PHASE; HOU APCH HAD US DSND FROM 8000 FT DOWN TO 6000 FT MSL. AT ABOUT 6800 FT MSL; SHE ASKED OUR AIRSPD. MY REPLY WAS '240 KIAS IN THE DSCNT.' HER REPLY WAS 'ROGER.' WHEN WE LEVELED OFF AT 6000 FT; OUR AIRSPD SLOWED TO 215 KIAS; WHICH IS VERY NORMAL AT OUR CRUISE PWR SETTING. A DIFFERENT CTLR ASKED US TO SAY AIRSPD AGAIN. MY REPLY WAS '215 KIAS.' HIS VOICE RAISED UP TO AN UNACCEPTABLE LEVEL DEMANDING THAT IF WE SLOW DOWN WE NEED TO ADVISE HIM BECAUSE ANOTHER ACFT BEHIND US WAS 'COMING UP OUR BUTT.' I TOLD HIM THAT I ADVISED THE LAST CTLR THAT OUR SPD WAS '240 KIAS IN THE DSCNT.' HE SAID THAT IT DOESN'T MATTER AND CONTINUED TO YELL. MY FO TOLD HIM THAT HE SHOULD KNOW WHAT THE ATR SPDS ARE AND THAT THERE WAS NO WAY WE COULD GIVE HIM 240 KIAS IN CRUISE; EVEN IF WE TRIED. HIS REPLY WAS 'THAT'S NOT WHAT I SAID; I SAID YOU HAVE TO TELL US IF YOUR SPD IS SLOWING.' MY EXPERIENCES WITH ATC IN THE HOUSTON AREA HAVE ALWAYS RENDERED VERY SIMILAR PROCS. NEVER HAVE I HAD TO TELL THEM THAT WHEN WE LEVEL OFF; OUR SPD NATURALLY DECREASES. I ASSUME THEY SHOULD KNOW THIS BECAUSE OUR DSCNT PROFILE IS NORMALLY THE SAME. I FELT LIKE MAYBE THE FIRST CTLR; WHO WE TEMPORARILY LOST COM WITH; CALLED THE OTHER CTLR TO WARN THEM THAT WE WERE NOT LISTENING TO OUR RADIOS. THIS IS AN ASSUMPTION BY ME AND MAY OR MAY NOT BE TRUE.