Conversing with someone with hearing loss can sometimes take a little extra work, especially in a noisy or challenging listening environment. But it’s certainly not impossible! Following a few communication do’s and don’ts can help turn a stilted and awkward dialogue into a conversation that is satisfying and fun…for both sides.
How People with Hearing Loss Hear
A critical step in improving conversation is to understand how those of us with hearing loss process speech. My favorite analogy is a game board from Wheel of Fortune. Some of the letters are filled in while others are blank. The listener must combine the assorted and incomplete sounds they are hearing with visual cues to create words or phrases that make sense given the topic at hand. It’s hard work and can lead to hearing loss exhaustion, also known as listening fatigue. All this concentration can sometimes cause us to wear a hearing loss frown, even when we are not angry.
It’s also important to understand that hearing aids do not work like glasses. Glasses bend light to transform an image that is blurry into something crisp and clear, but hearing aids do not do the same for sound. Hearing devices amplify speech, but this simply makes the words louder, not always crisper or clearer in the way that someone with typical hearing would experience them.
Hearing aids also have trouble differentiating among sounds, so background noises like the hum of a refrigerator or the clattering of dishes at a restaurant are amplified in addition to the more important speech sounds. This can make it difficult to understand conversation in noisy spaces.
Your Hearing Loss Communication Checklist
Share these dos and don’ts with your friends, family members, colleagues, and other conversation partners. Consider posting them in your workplace or sharing them with medical professionals. The more educated others are about better hearing loss communication, the easier it will be to find solutions that work for both sides! And to make them the norm.
The Dos
Do get our attention before speaking. Catching the first few words makes it easier to understand the context.
Do keep your mouth and face visible. Visual cues, sometimes called lipreading or speechreading, make it easier to fill in the blanks on the Wheel of Fortune board.
Do enunciate and speak at a clear and steady pace. Rapid speech is harder to process accurately.
Do take turns speaking. Overlapping speech is very hard to understand. Plus, it’s almost impossible to speechread two people at once, especially if they are not seated next to one another.
Do adjust the background soundscape as needed. Finding a quiet and well-lit space reduces listening effort and boosts speech comprehension.
Do watch for understanding. If the person with hearing loss is leaning in or frowning, consider asking them what you could be doing better to enhance communication.
Do repeat things as needed. Or rephrase them. Try spelling a difficult word or indicating its first letter to help narrow down the options for the Wheel of Fortune board.
Do use tech tools to enhance understanding. Remote microphones bring sound directly into hearing devices, lowering background noise. Speech-to-text apps turn the spoken word into readable text.
Do bring patience and a sense of humor. Communicating is easier when everyone is feeling relaxed.
The Don’ts
Don’t shout or chew while speaking. Both distort your face, making it harder to speechread.
Don’t lean in to whisper in our ear. We need the visual cues to understand what you are saying.
Don’t turn your back or talk to us from another room. Again, we need the visual input.
Don’t dismiss us when we don’t understand with a wave of the hand or a “never mind.” Repeat or rephrase instead. Leading with kindness goes a long way towards easier communication.
Don’t expect the person with hearing loss to do all the work. Ask what you can do to make communication easier.
Share these tips with your communication partners. And be sure to follow them too! Good communication requires everyone’s participation.
For more communication tips, read Hear & Beyond: Live Skillfully with Hearing Loss.
Readers, what hearing loss communication dos and don’ts would you add to my list?
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Great tips! I do a lot of them and can vouch for their benefit.
When I’m helping patrons at my library get passed the stigma and get their first set of aids or implants, I always make sure to tell them that amplification isn’t clarification. It helps set expectations. Some people’s voices are more difficult to understand with hearing loss than others no matter how much they’re amplified.
Great point! Thanks for sharing it here as well!