Hearing loss is known as the invisible disability for a reason. No one can see or experience your hearing loss, and no one can experience your difficulty and stress. The only thing someone can sense is their OWN aggravation when they have to constantly repeat themselves.
Unfortunately, people with hearing loss seldom get the benefit of the doubt. That’s why revealing your hearing loss to others is critical—both for attaining empathy and for engaging in effective conversation.
Here are some tips you can use to communicate your hearing loss to others.
Full disclosure of your hearing loss
Informing other people about your hearing loss might be awkward or distressing, but in doing so you’ll avoid many other awkward situations. Missing out on jokes and forcing others to repeat themselves, for instance, can produce situations that are a great deal more uncomfortable.
When revealing your hearing loss, strive for full disclosure. Don’t just say something like, “I can’t hear you, please talk louder.” Rather, summarize your hearing loss and suggest ways the other person can best converse with you. For example, you might say something like, “I’m partially deaf in my left ear because of an infection I had years ago. If you could sit on my right side that would help a lot.”
Provide others with communication tips
Once you disclose your hearing loss, others will be less likely to become frustrated and more apt to make the effort to communicate clearly. To help in this respect, offer your communication partners some tips for more effective communication, such as:
- Keep the distance between us short, and please don’t shout across the room or from another room.
- Face-to-face communication is critical; visual signs and lip reading help me with speech comprehension.
- Get my attention before communicating with me.
- Speak slowly and clearly, but there is no need to yell.
Your friends, family members, and work colleagues will appreciate the honesty and pointers, and you’ll avoid having to deal with communication problems after the fact.
Manage your hearing environment
After completely disclosing your hearing loss and presenting communication tips, the final consideration is the control of your environment. You want to present yourself the best opportunity to hear and communicate clearly, and you can attain this by excluding disruptions and background noise.
Here are a few guidelines:
- When eating out, choose a calm, tranquil restaurant and choose a booth away from the center of the restaurant.
- At social gatherings, it’s best if there is no background music or sound emanating from a TV or radio.
- Find quiet areas for conversations.
- Don’t be fearful to speak to the host ahead of time about special preparations.
Planning ahead is your best bet. Approaching the host before the event will give you your best chance at effective communication. And the same applies to work; reserve some time with your manager to review the arrangements that give you the best chance to achieve success. They’ll appreciate the initiative.
Find professional help
When hearing loss starts to make social events more of a burden than a pleasure, it’s about time to search for professional help. Modern hearing aids have come a long way in terms of their capacity to filter background noise and enhance speech, and they may be just what you need to enjoy an active social life once again.