Living with hearing impairment can be frustrating.
Living with hearing impairment can be frustrating. There’s little doubt of that. The misunderstandings and the frequent need to ask people to repeat themselves all contribute to the difficulty of communicating. However, there are ways to minimize these problems by making a few simple adjustments to account for hearing impairment during conversation. Here are some tips to help.
Ask People to Repeat Themselves
Asking someone to repeat what they’ve said is one of the biggest causes of frustration in conversation, especially when things have to be repeated two, or even three times. It takes time and causes strain for all parties involved. However, there are ways to help relieve that strain. When asking someone to repeat themselves, make sure you are specific about what you would like your conversation partner to repeat. The common responses “what?” and “pardon?” will cause people to speak louder, but volume is often not the issue. The pace of speech or the enunciation might be the problem.
Face to Face
A surprising way you can understand your conversation partner better is to make sure that they are facing you directly, preferably on the same level and in good lighting. Being able to watch someone talk and see what sounds their mouths are forming can aid in filling in gaps in the conversation, making for less repetition. It also helps if the speaker is careful to keep their hands away from their face. Having hands in the way of their mouth can not only make it more difficult to hear but also take away the aid of seeing their mouth.
Rephrasing Can Help
If you simply cannot understand what your conversation partner is saying, perhaps different word choices may fix the problem. Sometimes, hearing impairment can make certain words and sounds more difficult to understand than others, and some word combinations simply lend themselves to worse enunciation. If that’s the issue, then a simple rephrase ought to clear things right up.
Better Hearing Starts with Canary Hearing
Are you experiencing hearing loss? Canary Hearing can help. We are a family owned and operated hearing aid dispensing practice with over 40 years of professional hearing correction experience. Our full-time hearing care professionals can assist you in selecting and fitting the right hearing aids to help you start living life to the fullest. Get in touch with Canary Hearing today or connect with us on Facebook and Twitter.