- Everyday Objects That Can Cause Hearing Loss - May 5, 2024
- The Impact of Smoking and Alcohol on Hearing: Breaking Down the Risks - April 28, 2024
- The Future of Hearing Health Research: Promising Breakthroughs - April 18, 2024
Today in America, over 48 million of us are living with some form of hearing loss, ranging from mild to profound. While many people are born with hearing loss, it is very common for us to develop hearing loss as we age. In fact, over half of people age 70 or older have hearing loss, and nearly 100% of centenarians have it. It seems that if we live long enough, every one of us will have hearing loss eventually.
While the onset of hearing loss can be a scary time that requires some adjustment, there are some things you can do to help keep yourself in the conversation. Follow the tips below and you’ll find life to be a little easier in spite of hearing loss.
Ask For a “Heads Up” – Remind people that they can’t expect you to hear what they say unless they’re sure they have your attention first. Ask them to say your name and be sure to get a response before they communicate important information to you.
Face Others While They Speak – Hearing loss encourages us to look for additional ways to get conversational information, like lip reading or interpreting facial cues. Face others and ask them to make sure they’re facing you while they speak.
Reduce Background Noise – Our home environments, as well as work and leisure environments, can often be full of background noise like televisions, radios, or other conversations. Keep background noise to a minimum by switching it off when you can, or moving away from it. If you’re going to a restaurant, request to be seated in a quieter section of the dining room.
Double-Confirm Information – Many numbers and words sound similar enough that even people with normal hearing mix them up. Especially when your hearing is compromised, repeat back any numbers or other important details to the person who is communicating them to you, and ask them to confirm that you’ve got them right. When possible, get them in writing and confirm that they’re written down correctly.
Know Your Limits – Hearing loss is exhausting. The extra mental energy it takes to understand language when you can’t hear it properly makes those of us with hearing loss fatigued earlier than our normal-hearing peers. Take breaks when you can, and if you’ve reached your limit for the day, call it quits for now.
Ask For a Rephrase, Not a Repeat – By asking someone to rephrase a question or statement that you haven’t heard well enough, you’ll be getting twice the raw material to mine for context clues and it will make it that much easier to put together what they’re trying to say. We’ve all had the experience of being stuck in a loop where someone says the same word over and over while we say, “What? What?!”
Speech Tips – Those with hearing loss find that we often need to help those around us find the best ways to communicate with us. Some people will begin to shout to be heard, and this can simply distort their speech rather than make it more intelligible. Be prepared to educate your friends and loved ones in these few helpful speech tips:
- Speak clearly and enunciate.
- Speak a little louder, but don’t shout or exaggerate mouth movements. Keep it natural.
- Slow down your speech, but do not draw words out. Just add a little extra space between them.
- Pause between sentences or phrases and wait for confirmation that you’ve been understood.
- Avoid sudden changes in topic.
Employ Multipurpose Disclosure – While it may sound complicated, “multipurpose disclosure” just means that, when you have trouble hearing someone, you tell them that you have hearing loss and give them a tip or two to communicate with you better. For example, you might say, “I’m a little hard of hearing. Could you speak a little louder and add a little more space between your words?” Over time, you will likely find a few accommodations that help you more than others and learn to ask for those first.
Get Treatment for Hearing Loss – Hearing aids are the most common and effective treatment for hearing loss. A good set of modern hearing aids can restore most people’s hearing to near-normal, making most of the tips on the list above unnecessary in many situations. Hearing aids today can even reduce the level of background noise compared to speech, in some cases making speech recognition in noisy environments better than normal.