Communication tips with individual with hearing loss
Practical communication tips
- Encourage them to get into the habit of watching the speaker, even if listening is not difficult. It is good to get in the habit of paying attention.
- Teach them not to interrupt the speaker before he or she finishes a sentence. They may not understand the beginning, but may catch the end of the sentence, which can aid in understanding.
- Instruct he/she to let the speaker know when he or she missed something, and to ask for it to be repeated if they did not understand.
- Help them to learn to summarize what he/she did hear so that the communication partner knows what to fill in.
- If they does not appear to understand what is being said, rephrase the statement rather than simply repeating the misunderstood words. Present the topic of conversation. (For example, "We are talking about ...")
- Help them with hearing loss know that it’s normal to feel more fatigue than other students/co-workers after classes/work since they must work so much harder to keep up with the information presented.