Tactics for good hearing
No two hard-of-hearing people experience exactly the same hearing difficulties. This is party because different people develop different ‘tactics’. These tactics are ways of getting around the difficulties caused by hearing loss.
Some of the following eight tactics, produced by the Institute of Hearing Research, Nottingham, will probably work for you. You may find it helpful to show this to your family and friends and ask them to read through it.
Use your eyes
Make sure that you can see the face of the person you are talking with. Watch their lips - this gives vital information about what is being said. If the person’s face is in shadow lipreading will be more difficult.
Always try to position yourself so the light falls on the face of the person talking. Try not to have anything between you and the other person that might obscure your view of their face. Move closer to the person who is speaking, but not so close that you make them feel uneasy – the ideal distance is between 3 and 6 feet.
Don’t try to shout from another room – communication is very difficult if the speaker and the listener are in different rooms.
‘Body language’
Many people are as expressive with their hands and face as they are with their words. So take note of the speaker’s facial expressions and gestures. They help to illustrate the speaker’s topic, attitude, and also their mood and feelings. Their tone of voice, speed of talking, and stress on particular words also give clues. You can probably encourage friends and family to use gestures more.
Controlling and coping with noise
When having a conversation, try to keep the background noise to a minimum. Avoid corridors, roadsides, and pubs when they are full and busy – suggest going to a quiet room to talk. At home it will help to have soft furnishings such as heavy curtains. In a hall, church or theatre sit close to the front, or close to one of the loud speakers. If the noise is causing a problem, try to put yourself between the noise and the person talking, so that speech and noise come from different directions. If your hearing is not the same in both ears it helps to turn your better side towards the person speaking.
Listening to the radio or television
When listening to talk programmes, adjust the tone controls of your radio to achieve a sound balance that is best for you. Usually it is easier to understand speech if there is more ‘treble’ and less ‘bass’. This is also less disturbing to people in neighbouring rooms.
The tone settings may need to be changed for music, which requires relatively more ‘bass’, and then changed back again for a talk programme.
With television, getting the volume setting that suits you but does not disturb others is important.
Too high a volume also distorts the sound. It is usually better if the radio or television is in a corner or against a wall, and not by a window or curtain. It may be possible for you to sit closer to a television or more towards the side of it’s loudspeaker than others would.
Keep calm
Do not expect to hear every word – you will pick up key words which enable you to grasp the message. Do not get upset by how much you may have missed. Remember that no-one hears correctly all the time and that everyone makes mistakes of hearing – especially in company and in noisy surroundings.
When you are finding it difficult, try to keep calm. If you become anxious or flustered it may make matters worse and interfere with lipreading.
Conversational skills
In any conversation the speaker needs to receive some reaction from the listener. Nod or comment to show them you have heard and understood; you can frown, look puzzled, or ask questions if you have not heard clearly. When the other person is telling you something important, confirm that you have heard by asking a reversed question. For example, if the speaker has suggested meeting you, check by saying: “So that’s the 20th June, then, the Wednesday afternoon?” This gives you a chance to check the details. It also lets the talker know that you do have some difficulties in hearing, but that you are able to follow and participate if they make themselves clear. When trying to get more information repeat some of the words you did hear. For example, “Where did you say Peter was going?”, “How long did you say it would take?”
Try to avoid just saying “What?” all the time.
Helping others to help you
Be prepared to tell strangers that you sometimes have difficulty. Explain to family and friends as precisely as possible what makes it difficult to hear, for example: noise (radio, television, traffic) the use of unfamiliar words, their speed of talking, abrupt changes of topic. Say what helps, for example: their talking slowly and clearly but not exaggerating their lip movements, using a loud voice but not shouting, catching your attention before speaking to you, turning and facing you when talking, and introducing the topic that is being discussed. Explain to them that when you have missed something it can help if they repeat the sentence or if they express the same idea again in different words, for example, if you have missed: “What was the weather like on your holiday?”, they could try saying: “Did you have lots of sunshine while you were in Spain?”
Be positive
Good communication needs the efforts of both the speaker and the listener. Always show your appreciation when people have shown consideration of your difficulties or given you help in the ways described here. This makes them more likely to do so again.
It doesn’t help to complain that people don’t speak clearly nowadays or that you get left out, although that may sometimes seem true. Saying what does help you makes it more likely that they will do it again.
