Communication Strategies

       In my last post we discussed different types of hearing loss and how it affects communication.  In this post we will talk more about communication strategies.  As the holidays are rapidly approaching and we spend time around more groups of people in a variety of settings, we all encounter more background noise.

     With people who have hearing loss having communication difficulties in large groups is very common.  It is important to remember that communication is a "two way street".   There are two primary "rules of thumb" to keep in mind.  Number one, try to keep the background noise to a minimum.  People with hearing loss have trouble sorting out what they want to hear from background noise.  At home this is easy, simply mute the TV or turn off the music or dishwasher to communicate.  Out in public or in larger groups it is more difficult, however, to control background noise.  You want to manipulate the environment to give you the best chance of hearing.  You do not want to be in the middle of the group.  Get off to one side of the group and get the majority of noise behind you or get around a corner if possible.  This allows your pinnas or ears to reduce the sound coming from behind you and enhance the sound in front of you.  Number two, always make sure you can see the speakers face.  Again a person with a hearing loss has difficulty hearing certain speech sounds that are important for understanding speech like, F, S SH etc.  These speech sounds, however, are the easiest sounds in our language to lip read.

     Hopefully these strategies will improve communication for everyone. As always,  questions or comments are always welcome.

William J. Boggess, M.S.