Tips for Communicating with the Hard of Hearing

It may seem like you need great skills to communicate with a person who is hard of hearing. In reality, it shouldn’t be a strict skill because most of these people are already receiving management from a local audiologist. All you require is a great amount of mindfulness when such interactions are initiated. With the right mindset and attitude, your conversations with someone experiencing hearing loss can be productive and enjoyable. Here are a few ways on how to do that. 

Always Face a Person Hard of Hearing

During conversations, it’s recommended to face a person to allow them to see your face when you talk. More concentration will be on the mouth area because a person with hearing loss can understand what you’re saying when they read your lips. Therefore, do not cover your mouth or be positioned at a distance quite far from them. Ideally, the space should be one or two meters away from the hard-of-hearing person.

As you keep talking, make eye contact to enhance their ability to comprehend your speech. If you both are in a heavily lighted area, ensure the illumination is on your face instead and not reflecting in the person's eyes with hearing loss.

Turn Off Background Noise

Suppose you happen to be in an area where you can control music playing in the background, turn down the volume or put it off completely. It could be at home or in the office. The ultimate goal is to keep interference out as much as possible. If it’s a public area with blaring loudspeakers, find seats away from the background noise to enhance communication.

Keep in mind that even for you, exposure to loud sounds can affect your hearing. Often, people with hearing loss use aids recommended by the audiologist to support their auditory functions. However, background noise can cause interference and end up blocking sounds coming from you.

Avoid Mumbling, Shouting or Exaggerating Sounds

Any of the above can change the outcome of your conversation with a person hard of hearing. Shouting, mumbling or exaggerating takes away the normalcy of a decent conversation. Apart from that, it becomes difficult for the other person to read your lips properly. Therefore, make a deliberate effort to speak in your normal voice but do it clearly, steadily and with mindfulness. Where it’s necessary, you can rephrase your sentences to enhance understanding.

While at it, avoid talking with your hands on your face because that can be a distraction. Additionally, avoid talking when you are eating or when taking a puff of a cigar. All these can impair speech sounds. A somewhat controversial addition is the issue of beards and mustaches. These hairs tend to obscure the full definition of the mouth, making it challenging for a person with hearing loss to read lips. In this case, you decide to find a way around it, even if it means trimming the hairs to reveal your lips properly.

Take Turns to Talk

This is crucial if there are more than just the two of you involved in the conversation. This is to avoid confusion and ambiguity during the interaction process. Usually, this should be an unspoken agreement among the parties involved. The last thing you want to happen is to have clashing turns resulting in the person with hearing loss missing out on words uttered.

Show Respect Throughout the Conversation

There is a reason behind the saying, action speaks louder than words. Through your mannerisms, a person with hearing loss can feel disrespected. For example, suddenly getting up from their presence without alerting them first could be misconstrued as offensive. Therefore, make a deliberate effort to inform them in advance about a sudden change from the topic or an end to it.

Write Things Down or Draw If Necessary

This is a normal thing to do, and it enriches the conversation even more. Moreover, it helps you remember the things you want to talk about. Indeed, the conversation may sometimes hit a wall when you repeat or rephrase something you said earlier. A more accessible and convenient way to keep things going is to write it in legible handwriting for the other person to read. In some instances, a drawing makes a better illustration than describing with words. If it helps, learn primary American Sign language to get things going.

Communicating with a person who is hard of hearing can be simple if you make it so. Therefore, if you already know someone with hearing loss, help enhance their quality of living by directing them to Gavin Audiology and Hearing Aids. Better yet, call us today at (914) 610-3440 to learn more.