Communicaton Tips

     Hearing loss can be very frustrating whether you’re the person who suffers from it, or a loved one trying to communicate with a hard of hearing family member. The best way to address hearing loss is to be evaluated by a Doctor of Audiolgy, who can fully assess your hearing and help you craft an appropriate treatment plan. Even with hearing aids, it can still be difficult to communicate with a person with hearing loss, so we wanted to share a list of tips to make your conversations more successful. 

1. Be patient.

Please realize that the person with hearing loss is not being difficult or intentionally ignoring you. They simply are not hearing you (Well, probably not, let’s give them the benefit if the doubt!). A bit of patience and grace can go a long ways to helping you be heard and understood.

2. Do not speak from another room.

It’s completely unfair to expect someone with hearing loss to understand what you’re saying from the other end of the house or even a room over. Sound is absorbed by walls, carpets, and other household objects. It’s not convenient, but go to them. If it’s important, it’s worth taking the steps necessary to be as successful as possible. You and your loved ones are worth it!

3. Do not start speaking and walk away.

It’s understandably frustrating when someone continues speaking when they are walking away. For a person with hearing loss, it’s nearly impossible to understand in this situation. Sound is actually a pressure wave, and it’s energy decreases exponentially with distance. If you’re faced away, or moving away, significantly less sound is reaching the listener. If you want to be heard, stay close to the listener, or wait until you return to have your conversation.

4. Do not speak with your back to the person with a hearing loss.

Again, when a person is unable to see your face, you’re really making it difficult for them to understand you. Diminished sound quality and the loss of all visual cues, is a recipe for confusion for a person with hearing difficulty. A smile is also a great communication aid!

5. Do not speak in competition with something else.

Things like a TV or radio, noisy fans, motors, and even running water are very effective at masking speech. Even though you may be able to have a conversation in poor listening conditions, it’s not guaranteed that everyone else can.

In our office we have a very loud furnace. When it’s running, it’s much more difficult to understand. If the fan is running, we walk down the hall to have a conversation face to face, or sometimes we’ll use the intercom feature on our cordless phones.

6. Get the attention of the person with a hearing loss.

Saying a person’s name helps cue them to listen. In my own life, I was watching a football game, and my wife, Brittany, was down the hall saying something. I muted the game and said, “What? Brittany, I can’t understand you.” She then replied, “Oh, I’m talking to the dogs.” So I returned my focus to the football game. A little while later, Brittany came into the living room with her hands on her hips and said, “Are you just ignoring me?” I thought she had still been talking to the dogs, and had purposely not been paying any attention to her. We laughed about it once she had finally gotten my attention.

Communication is a two way street. For those of you with hearing loss, you have to be an active listener. Pause the tv, put down your book, stop what you are doing and give the speaker your attention.

7. Speak face to face.

We get a lot of information from a person’s face and mouth when having a conversation. Speaking face to face is a great way to make sure a person with hearing loss is able to take advantage of these subtle cues.

8. Remove obstructions while speaking.

If you have something obscuring your face, it’s also impossible to gather clues from your mouth. Put your hands down. Put down your magazine or newspaper. Masks can make communication nearly impossible for some people who rely on lipreading. Clear masks are very helpful for someone suffering from hearing loss.

9. Slow down and speak clearly. Rephrasing a statement may also be very helpful.

In American English, we speak quickly and coarticulate sounds. As the sounds are smooshed together, it’s much more difficult to understand. In Wyoming, we drop nearly all our “G’s.” Here, we pronounce “running” more like “runnin.” Dropped or skipped sounds are especially puzzling if you’re not hearing the entire word in the first place. If everyone has perfect hearing, we can get away with a lot of bad communication behavior. One of the most important things we can do is SLOW DOWN and SPEAK CLEARLY. This simply means take the time to produce all the sounds in a word. Brief pauses between sentences or ideas, are also a great way to allow a listening to catch up and process what they have heard.

Rephrasing a statement can also be very helpful. It’s possible a person has heard the words, but misunderstood the meaning. Using a different way to convey the same idea can sometimes make it easier to grasp.

10. Be patient. 

Kindness is such a huge key to communication. When it’s difficult, it’s frustrating for everyone. Being patient is purposely on this list twice because it’s so important.

Communication is such a vital part of anyone’s well being. It’s important that we’re not only good listeners, but we also have to be good communicators. Most people are willing to help if we are willing to ask for help, but it’s essential to advocate for ourselves. I hope this list is as helpful for you, as it has been for our patients at Big Horn Basin Hearing and Speech. These are just a few of the Aural Rehabilitation strategies that we use. If you or a loved one are suffering from hearing loss, please give us a call at 307-527-6475 so we can schedule a time to help you on your journey towards better hearing.

By Dr. Levi Asay Au.D.