"What? I can't hear you!" What to do When Speaking to a Person with Hearing Loss

When someone tells you that they have a hearing loss, it can be hard to know exactly what to do. The most common reaction (and most logical) is to talk louder. While that certainly helps, there is a lot of other things to do that will help the conversation go much smoother.

1. Talking louder does help, but do not start yelling or screaming. First of all, it’s rude and obnoxious. Secondly, it doesn’t help. While increasing your volume a little is effective, too much volume makes it hard to make out speech. Just raise your voice enough and…..

2. Talk slowly. Not so slow that they start thinking you are the dumb one, but slow enough where you can enunciate all your words. This gives their brain more time to process the sound. Because the little hair cells in their ears are lying down, the sound waves to the brain take longer to process. (You can read about that here.) So, just slow down and give them time to process what you are saying.

3. Make sure they can see you. Most, if not all, hearing impaired people read lips. If they can’t see your face, they most likely have no idea what you are saying. No matter how loud you are talking (refer to #1).

4. Get their attention before talking. Say their name, tap them on the shoulder, wave your arms, etc. Again, make sure they are looking at you before starting to talk. Even if you are arm’s length apart, don’t start in a story and expect a hearing-impaired person to know that you are talking to them. This is especially true if they are pre-occupied with something else. Always get their attention first.

*If they are preoccupied with something, depending on what it is, it may be best to wait until they are done. Because they need to be looking at you, it makes it very difficult to do two things at once. Remember, hearing is almost like a chore for hearing impaired people. It takes their full concentration to understand what you are saying.

5. If a hearing impaired person asks you “what” multiple times, try saying the same thing a different way. Some tones, syllables, sounds, etc. are just not recognized and heard sometimes. For example, if you have said, “The baby has not woken up from her nap yet” five times and they still don’t know what you said, say this instead. “The baby is still sleeping.” You can even use hand gestures.

It can be frustrating to talk to someone who is hearing impaired, especially when you are trying to relay information quickly. Just know, they are frustrated and wish they could you as well. Just slow down, ask them what you could do help them, and I guarantee your conversations will go much better.

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