Over 5% of the world population has a
disabling hearing loss. ‘Deafness’ if by birth is also mostly associated with ‘muteness’
as most people who are born hearing impaired do not develop speech and language
which is the most important form of communication. So how do you approach or
communicate or make the communication easier for the person who is hard of
hearing.
Listed below are certain strategies that one
can use to help the hearing challenged to communicate effectively
Notice if the person is
wearing a hearing aid or not. Strategies can be similar irrespective of whether
the person is wearing an aid or not. Strategies can also be used with normal
hearing person in difficult to hear situations such as in crowded or noisy
situations.
If the person
cups his ear or stands in a particular position showing his better ear to you,
understand that he has a difficulty in hearing. The usual practice in such a
case is to shout in the ears of the person. When it is not practical, following
steps will aid in better communication.
a)
Position yourself in such a way
that the person has good and clear view of your face. This means do not stand/speak
with your back turned or from behind the door or from other room or from a distance
or with an obstacle in between including your hands. Also make sure that there
is appropriate lighting in the room. This is important because people who are
hard of hearing or are in difficult to hear situations , rely more on our
visual information for example the
facial expression to understand along with hearing. Speechreading or lipreading
the syllables is also a normal part of communication as we try to get maximum
information from the visual aspects of speaking e.g. for \u\ sound as in moon
we round our lips.
b)
The second strategy is to
reduce the background noise and loud sounds as much as possible. What is noise?
Any unwanted sound in a situation is called noise. For example if the person is
watching TV and there are few people talking behind interfering with the
listening of TV, the noise in this situation is the speech. However if the
person is listening to the people talking with the TV on, TV is the noise. Noise
interferes with communication and even the modern digital hearing aids are not
good with controlling the noise. Most persons with hearing impairment are not
tolerant to loud sounds as well. Hence communication should be done if possible
in a quiet environment to help the hearing handicapped. In simple words cut
down all distractions.
c)
Get the attention of the person
before you start your message. You can do this by taking his name or patting him or by making sure he is
facing you before you start your message. This will ensure that you will not
have to repeat yourself and that the person has received the full message.
d)
Do not shout. Yes and that’s
the way everyone communicates with the deaf. Instead of shouting or
exaggerating speech you must speak slowly, clearly and naturally in a moderate
pace so that the person can catch the sounds. Shouting leads to distortion of
sounds and also sends a negative signal to the person. You may notice that a
hearing impaired person may speak loudly. This is due to his hearing loss and
inability to monitor his own voice. Also, if the person cannot understand
certain words, it is better to rephrase/modify it. For example ‘Where did you
buy this shirt from?’ and the person has difficulty catching ‘shirt’ you may
just point with the finger to the shirt ‘where did you buy this from’ etc. Also
use simple sentences while speaking instead of long and complex sentences.
e)
Make sure the person understood
you. This can be done by asking the person to repeat indirectly. For example in
a telephone conversation if you give an appointment you can ask the person to
tell his appointment date or ask him if he got it right. You may also repeat it
few times to make sure he heard it properly. Important messages can be given in
written form as well to make sure the person understood and remembers. It is
also a good practice to summarize the main points. Do not assume that the
person understood you.
f)
Have a positive, patient,
relaxed attitude towards them. Build a rapport to gain their confidence that
you really understand their problem and are willing to help them. However do
not over empathize with them talking about deafness etc. Treat them with
respect and build their confidence so that it becomes a pleasant experience for
them and they do not hesitate to seek help the next time.
g)
If the person does not use
spoken communication, always ask them if they can communicate through sign
language or by writing. You will be surprised to know that most of them can
communicate by writing and you can try communicating by writing/ lipreading. In
case you cannot find an interpreter try to understand simple signs and help
them out if you can. However if there are important messages to be conveyed it
is important you do it in a proper manner by taking appropriate help than just
by trial and error with signs.
h)
In case of an emergency for
example fire alarm / traffic horn etc. make sure you alert the hearing impaired
person using visual information as well.
Useful resources:
1)
How to communicate with deaf
people wiki how
http://www.wikihow.com/Communicate-With-Deaf-People
2)
Improving understanding with
communication strategies (on cochlear
website)
