Tips for communicating with Hearing Instrument Users                          

1. Speak clearly and naturally.  Do not shout or over-emphasize your speech.  Loud speech will create distortion.  Maintain a normal tone of voice and speak clearly.  Slowing your rate of speech will help by giving the hearing impaired listener additional time to process the message.

2. Reduce the distance between speaker and listener.  A hearing aid will pick up best what�s closest to its microphone.  Try to maintain a distance of no more than 15-20 feet.  Avoid trying to talk from another room.  Reducing distance is particularly crucial if there is background noise.

3. Face the listener.  Position your self so that the listener can see your face and lips.  Visual cues can help supplement what is received auditorily.

4. Obtain the listener�s attention.  Before beginning your communication, attract the listener�s attention by saying their name, tapping them on the shoulder or entering their field of vision.  This will enable the listener to focus on your message.

5. Reduce background noise as much as possible.  Turn off the radio, TV, etc.  or move to a quieter area.  It is much easier to hear a message when competing background noise is reduced or eliminated.

6. Be patient and supportive.  Try to cue the hearing impaired person to a change in the topic of conversation or orient them to the topic if they join a conversation midstream (�We�re discussing Mary�s trip to the beach�).  If the hearing impaired person obviously is not understanding something, rephrase or present the information in a new way rather than repeating the same thing over and over.

How to get in touch with the right person and get your questions answered quickly: 

For Insurance Purposes: 

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The Hearing & Balance Centers of Greenwood ENT

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• http://www.entnet.org/ - The American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery.
• http://www.asha.org/ - ASHA is the professional, scientific, and credentialing association for more than 98,000 audiologists, speech-language pathologists, and speech, language, and hearing scientists.

Copyright � 2001 Greenwood Ear, Nose & Throat
Last modified: September 22, 2004