When you have difficulty doing something, whether it’s learning a new skill or, in the case of hearing loss, practicing an old one, it can be hard to figure out how to explain what you need to others.
Though you may know that you didn’t hear your spouse or friend during a coffee date at Grounds Central Station, it might be hard to figure out why, and even harder to figure out how to make communication easier.
Let’s take a look at a few communication tips to make each conversation more accessible and how you can broach the topic of your hearing needs.
Communication Tips
Employ the following communication tips for clearer conversations:
- Face each other. With the near-constant presence of smartphones, TVs and other distractions, it’s easy to have a conversation with someone without looking at them. Next time you talk to your loved ones, put your phone away and ask them to do the same. Request that they face you while talking and explain that doing so will direct sound to you and allow you to pull context clues from their facial expressions.
- Limit background noise. Hearing loss makes it more difficult to separate speech from other noise. That difficulty means that a busy club isn’t the best place for an important conversation. If you want to catch up with a loved one, consider meeting at a chill coffee shop or hanging out at your house.
- Set the pace and volume. It’s common for people to raise their voice, over-enunciate or slow their speech when talking to someone with hearing loss. While they’re well-intentioned, altered speech can be more challenging than it is helpful. Ask the speaker to talk at their natural pace. Let them know that you’ll ask questions if you don’t understand something.
Everyone has different communication needs. Think about how you communicate best and let your loved one know what they can do to help.
Starting the Conversation
Let your loved one know that you have trouble hearing and that you may need them to adjust their communication style so you can hear them better. Don’t frame the request as something they’re doing wrong, but rather as something new they can do to help out. For example, “You’re mumbling when you talk.” will not be taken as well as “Would you mind looking at me while you speak so I can hear you better?”
Managing your hearing loss with hearing aids and employing the above communication tips will help ensure you enjoy every conversation with your loved ones. For more information about managing hearing loss, contact ENT Specialists Of Northern Virginia today.
Sources
Reiss, L. A., & Molis, M. R. (2021). An alternative explanation for difficulties with speech in background talkers: Abnormal fusion of vowels across fundamental frequency and ears. Journal of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology, 22, 443–461. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10162-021-00790-7