6 Effective Communication Strategies

When you love someone with a hearing loss it’s not always easy to know how to help them.  Here’s a start!

•  Get their attention first. 
•  Decrease background noise as much as possible.  Background noise will mask critical speech sounds.
•  Don’t shout!  Volume is not the problem, it’s clarity!  Shouting right into the ear is also NOT helpful.
•  Moderately slow your rate of speech.  You’ll enunciate more clearly and your loved one will be better able to hear the gaps between words, facilitating their understanding you.
•  Visual cues:  lips, gestures, facial expressions help fill in the gaps!  Decrease distance so they have access to all these cues!  Don’t walk in the opposite direction while speaking.
•  When you need to repeat something, say it in a different way.