Tips for Communicating With Your Family Who Has Hearing Loss
- Get their ATTENTION BEFORE you start speaking.
- Say their NAME or gently touch them on the shoulder or arm if appropriate. This allows their brain to ‘get ready to listen’
- SLOW DOWN your speech and SPEAK CLEARLY.
- Repeat what you’ve said in a DIFFERENT WAY instead of just talking louder (which can distort their speech and mouth movements)
- Drop your voice to a lower pitch if possible
- REDUCE DISTRACTIONS by turning down the TV, music or moving to a quieter location
- BACKGROUND NOISE makes listening with hearing loss much more difficult
- FACE THEM and MOVE IN CLOSER when you are speaking to them
- They can benefit from READING YOUR LIPS and your facial expressions and body language
- WRITE down words on paper or on your phone or iPad if needed
- Write down the IMPORTANT WORDS to help clue them into the context
- BE OPEN to using a DEVICE to help them if they have one, a microphone or FM for example
- Generally, you simply need to SPEAK INTO THE MICROPHONE and the sound will get picked up by their hearing aid or headset
- ENCOURAGE them to get their hearing checked every two years. Remember that hearing aids are like glasses, our prescription changes over time.