Tips for Communicating with the Hard of Hearing

Occasionally, there are various barriers to communication that affect how information is shared. For individuals experiencing hearing difficulty, more measures are needed to ensure smooth and effective communication. Factors such as noisy backgrounds or volumes and frequencies can pose an extra challenge when communicating with the hard of hearing. Fortunately, helpful tips can help you communicate properly with a loved one, friend or colleague experiencing mild or moderate hearing impairment.

Impact of Hearing Difficulty on Communication

A person's ability to appreciate sounds at normal levels is greatly affected by hearing loss. This can make word processing more difficult since the brain is forced to fill in any missing parts the ear could not receive. You may get the word right in some instances but not all the time, and it could lead to word mishearing and interpretation of the message.

You have other sounds competing with signals when you try to hear in a noisy background. This masks the speech further and makes it harder to grasp words. As a result, the brain needs to fill in a more significant gap, increasing your chance of getting a word wrong. You can do a few things for a successful conversation with someone with hearing loss:  

• Speak at normal levels since attempting to speak louder can distort words.
• Offer the keyword or conversation topic to the person with hearing loss.
• Use gestures.
• Speak slowly and clearly.
• Spell or write a tricky word on paper if necessary.

How to Communicate with Someone with Hearing Loss

Creating the right environment makes it easier to communicate with people who are hard of hearing. Here are some ways you can do to make the environment more ideal for communication:

• Adequate room lighting: Several individuals with some hearing loss usually depend on lip-reading, gestures, body language and facial expressions. Therefore, ensuring adequate lighting would make it easier for them to see these actions and communicate effectively. 
• Make it easier to see everybody's face: If you are in a restaurant or a group, it helps to sit in a location where you can visibly see everyone's face at the table. Visual access to everybody's face helps facilitate better hearing and communication.

Choose a place with less background noise. The ears and brain can filter background noise in some situations. However, a person experiencing hearing loss may find it hard to hear in backgrounds with excessive noise. Small rooms with no curtains and carpeting usually have poor acoustics, which does not alter voices.

You can invite a family member or friend experiencing a hearing loss to a different, quieter room to talk during a group gathering. You can also turn off the TV or any source of noise in the room. Suppose you would like to visit a restaurant. In that case, you should select one with no loud music and decent acoustics. It would help if you also were mindful of the time.

Other Communication Tips You Should Consider

It helps to keep some things in mind to facilitate better communication with someone experiencing some form of hearing loss. There are some dos and don'ts you should keep in mind, including:

• Making sure you don't cover your mouth, talk through a yawn or when chewing.
• Avoid speaking to the person with your back turned or from another room.
• Stand or sit close to the individual experiencing hearing loss, however not too close to prevent them from keeping eye contact and reading your speech.
• When talking to a person with hearing loss in one ear, ensure to speak more towards the better ear.
• Write down the essential details or ask the individual to repeat the specifics when giving out important information. This way, you can be sure they have the information right.
• Avoid speaking over to one another in a group setting and pay attention to listener cues. Persons experiencing hearing loss are sometimes embarrassed and even get tired of asking people to clarify or repeat themselves. If the individual appears puzzled, find a tactful way to ask if they understood you.

Get Professional Help

Your audiologist can help you improve your hearing loss by adjusting your hearing aids. Contact Rocky Mountain Hearing & Balance today at (801) 685-3456 if you have trouble with your hearing aids or need help with communicating with your friends or loved ones with a hearing impairment.