Effective Communication Tips for Hearing Loss

When you are having a conversation with somebody who’s dealing with hearing loss, it can be challenging if you don’t understand how to communicate with them. However, as much as you think it’s frustrating for you to potentially have to repeat yourself, you have to consider how frustrating it must be for the person who is struggling to hear you in the first place. What to you is simple communication may be a huge effort for the person you are speaking to, and the person with hearing loss has to make a more active effort to listen and understand everything you are saying. And while it may seem like you could just speak up, this can cause confusion as well because hearing loss occurs in frequencies and pitches, not simply volume.

Luckily, there are a number of things you can do to communicate better if you have hearing loss. While hearing aids are the most widely accepted treatment – and do vastly improve the lives of wearers – there are also some communication strategies you can employ to help with active listening.

Reduce Background Noise

Before you start talking to somebody, make sure that you are in a quiet or at least quieter space to speak. So, turn off the TV or radio, turn off any other noisy appliances, and don’t leave the tap running in the background. If you can’t physically reduce the background noise where you are, then move to a quieter area and then have a conversation.

Get the Person’s Attention

You can say their name or touch their shoulder, or you can physically stand in front of their eye line so that they can see you. When you do this, you are ensuring that you both have each other’s full attention and can engage in conversation easier.

If you want to communicate effectively with anybody with hearing loss, then you need to ensure that you are speaking face to face at eye level. You shouldn’t be any more than a few feet away, and you shouldn’t have your mouth covered when you speak. Those who have hearing loss often watch mouths move so that they can learn to read lips as they are speaking to somebody. So, avoid smoking or chewing gum or covering your mouth during the conversation.

Speak Clearly

You can speak at a conversational level with somebody who has hearing loss, especially if they are wearing hearing aids or have an implant. There’s no need to shout, but, if necessary, you can modestly increase your volume. It’s natural to slow your speech a little bit when you are speaking to somebody with hearing loss, but that doesn’t mean you need to speak so slowly that it sounds like they are stupid.

These strategies, when used with the treatment of the right hearing aid, can drastically help bridge the communication gap that can occur when someone has hearing loss.