How to communicate with someone with hearing loss
A person with hearing loss will face daily battles. It can be embarrassing and frustrating not being able to understand family and friends or participate in social gatherings.
Sometimes hearing loss can be dangerous especially if an ageing person cannot follow a doctor's advice or respond to alarms and warnings.
Hearing loss and communication tips
- Gain a person's attention, make sure you have eye contact before speaking and are not too far away
- Choose a quiet environment, avoid background noise
- Ensure the speakers lip movements, facial expressions and gestures can be seen
- Speak normally, a little louder but avoid shouting
- Use simple language and get to the point
- Repeat or rephrase a message, if a person misses key words they can get lost in a conversation
- Write things down
Tip: Remember hearing aids don't automatically make a person hear normally they may still have problems hearing effectively.
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