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10 things someone with hear loss wish others understood

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Thought everyone might want your family and friends to know

10 Things People With Hearing Loss

Wish You Knew

If you know someone with hearing loss, then you know communicating

with them can be a challenge. I want to give you 10 things that people

with hearing loss wish you knew:

1 Do not speak to them from another room.

2 Do not speak with your back toward the listener or their back toward

you.

3 Do not speak as you’re walking away.

4 Do not turn your face away from the listener while you’re talking.

5 Do not speak when background noise is louder than your voice.

6 Do not speak without getting the listener’s full attention — they

need to concentrate on what you’re saying.

7 Do not speak if there are obstacles in front of your face; even a

shadow makes it more difficult for them to understand you.

8 Do not obstruct the view of your mouth while speaking.

9 Do not speak rapidly or shout.

10 Do not get frustrated with the listener; remember, most of the time

they really do want to hear what you have to say.

21 people in this conversation19 min readJump to latest

Sadly they don’t though.

However, I’ve found your household members (spouse etc) are the worst, and least tolerant.

I’ve had a few, in recent times, in the pub, that have said things like: “Why can’t you hear, uou have hearing aids?” The response one got was: “They’re like a walking stick, they help, but aren’t like glasses”

“Ten Commandments for Communicating With Folks Who Have Hearing Disibility” that’s what I’m calling this. Put it in crosstitch, frame it, hang it up.

  1. Yelling louder will not help us understand you better. Volume on top of volume amplifies the problem rather than corrects it.

  2. Just because we look at your lips does not mean we want to kiss you.

Edited

In reply to #3

I’ve used almost 25 years.

Back then my hearing was getting bad. I’d go to a wonderful Audi and when I went home I could hear

Now my hearing is much worse.

I often am told “ you can’t hear at all “

I have cognitive difficulties too. And when I don’t have my hearing aids in I feel almost deaf

Thanks for posting

DaveL

Edit. Trying to say being hard of healing affects us and family. I wish there was a real fix

@cvkemp This is really great! Except that, aside from a spouse or really close relative or friend, it would probably seem like too much.

With my spouse and I, I say many of these things, but habit is hard, we forget. I am sometimes bad about these things myself with him.

The worst is that my mother always yelled at me from another room, or even another floor!! So I used to speak to him from another room, much to his annyoyance, understandably!

In reply to @DaveL

@DaveL

It sounds like you may need new hearing aids, further adjustments, or a different dome/mold. And possibly an evaluation for a cochlear implant.

Not hearing well, as you know can lead to, or exacerbate cognitive issues. An evaluation for cognitive issues, would also be in order.

It would also great to have support from a friend or relative for that—or anything at all!! Or a group for people with cognitive issues.

@Blue_Pearl1

Thanks! I have a wonderful doctor who has supported me so well. I saw her yesterday. I’ve requested new hearing aids from my specialist earlier than the 5 year interval I believe they will make a difference.

You all help me so much.

Thanks for your comment.

DaveL

@cvkemp chuck thanks for this post.

In reply to @Blue_Pearl1

I tell doctors and nurses that have the mask on that I cannot understand what they are saying. That I read their lips. So get upset, you know I don’t care anymore if people get upset or not.

Aslong as it isn’t to the tune of Ringo’s “Yellow Submarine” you’ll hang on to your sanity!

In reply to @cvkemp

@cvkemp

@cvkemp Since the pandemic, I have said to doctors, nurses, receptionists, etc. that I need masks with closed captioning!!! Boy, would that help!

I never realized before that how much I lip read. It was just completely unconscious, obviously.

Yes, and if they are soft-spoken to boot—-arghhh! We’ll, now more people are not wearing masks, but quite a number of doctors do, because they are seeing so many patients who may “have” something, even if they don’t know it yet.

In reply to @DaveL

@DaveL

@DaveL Thank goodness that you have a supportive doctor, and that you will get new aids!

Did you talk to her also about the cognitive issues? If not, that is surely an important conversation to have. You should have an evaluation for that, so that you can get help with it. There are various avenues to go down to help with it, uncomfortable though it may be. It’s worse to let it go on without help.

I’m in the same boat in that name and word recall are atrocious!!I I know that Tick-Borne Diseases are the worst culprit, but the side-effects of a med that I can’t do without are also. And then there is aging . . .

In reply to @Blue_Pearl1

@Blue_Pearl1 said:

We’ll, now more people are not wearing masks, but quite a number of doctors do, because they are seeing so many patients who may “have” something, even if they don’t know it yet.

That is SO true!!! So our frustration of communication continues as the mask-wearing seems to be endless. And I don’t blame them for wearing them, but SO wish medical service providers (clinics, dentist, doctor, ER, all that!) would switch to the clear plastic “window” type of face mask. That is what the gals wore at my previous audiologist’s office, so I know they exist.

It’s there, in the presence of folks delivering treatment that we absolutely need to HEAR (or see + hear) the diagnosis and treatment. Appointments are so rushed these days (every medical office working like a fast-food joint) that I often return home only to realize I missed asking a key question!

Ah well, here’s to global GOOD HEALTH and see-through masks!

@1Bluejay

OMG, I didn’t even know those existed!! That would be a huuuuge help!!

As I mentioned above, I never realized that I lip read until the pandemic! I was saying that we needed masks with closed captioning! But clear masks would do the trick.

People who don’t have hearing loss have no idea how many people do, and how much we struggle, even with , to hear. I think that there is a lot of education that needs to be done to help us. Especially because it’s an invisible disability.

On the issue of forgetting to ask or say something important in a doctor’s appointment. I ALWAYS do a succinct, bullet-point writeup for every appointment, whether doctors, dentists, or HA fitters of important questions, issues, etc. I give one copy to the provider, a one for myself. That way nothing is forgotten.

Sometimes there isn’t time for it all, but at least it isn’t forgotten, which is very easy to happen. And, as you say, doctors are so pressed by the hospital systems to keep the appointment time short so they can see more patients—AWFUL for doctors and patients alike.

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