SOME NOTES FOR FAMILY AND FRIENDS It's very difficult for a person with normal hearing to appreciate the problems of a person with a hearing impairment. You can close your eyes and pretend you are blind, but you can't close your ears and become hearing impaired. Another difficulty arises because hearing impairment is invisible. You can always tell if someone is blind, crippled, but often the only way you can find out someone is hearing impaired is to talk to them. It is factors such as these that lead us to underestimate the problems of hearing impairment.
This information is designed to help you, the family and friends of the person with a hearing impairment , understand the problems and offer ways you can help overcome it.
You are probably reading this because someone you know has just been fitted with a hearing aid. Maybe you, like so many people with hearing impairment, also do believe this will solve all their problems. Unfortunately, this is not true in most cases. Unlike spectacles, which often restore normal or near normal sight to the wearer, hearing aids rarely restore normal hearing.
A common complaint of many hearing aid wearers if that they can hear, but not understand.
The hearing aid can make sounds louder, but often the message is broken or distorted because of the nature of the hearing loss. The hearing aid can only make the sound louder; it can't make it clearer. As a result, many new aid users are very disappointed and wonder if it is worthwhile wearing it. Adjusting to these new sound patterns is a long-term project and the new aid user needs all the help and encouragement you can offer.
Another factor which can lead to discontent with the hearing aid is that it amplifies everything; background noise as well as speech. Background noise may be in fact, louder than the speech, and as a result, makes listening an extremely difficult task.
Some aid users also find they are unable to adjust their hearing aids to a volume setting that is comfortably loud. The aid seems to sound either too soft or too loud. This may be the result of what is known as 'recruitment'. Many people with hearing impairment suffer from recruitment and as a result are very sensitive to relatively small increases in loudness. They may find that a level of loudness just slightly above where they can't hear at all, irritatingly loud or even almost painful. This is why many people with hearing impairment, especially when they are wearing hearing aids, seem so sensitive to raised voices and other loud noises.
Another common misconception many people have is that if the person with a hearing impairment can't cope with the hearing aid, they can always learn to lipread. The popular idea is that a trained lipreader can see on the lips everything people with normal hearing can hear. Again this is not true. When we speak, the movements we make with our lips, tongue and teeth are designed to make the various parts of speech sound different, not look different. Many speech sounds look exactly the same; for example, say Park, Bark and Mark whilst looking in a mirror. Do you notice they all look the same? Other speech sounds are almost invisible.
As a result of these, and other related factors, even the best lipreader only picks up about one third of what is said. But this is usually enough to understand the things talked about. Lipreading, or more correctly, speech-reading, for we look at more than just the lips, however, is usually used along with the sound patterns provided by the hearing aid. These two combined may enable the person with a hearing impairment to receive most of the message. For the person with impaired hearing, listening plus looking is the key to effective communication. Speechreading can't overcome all the communication problems of the hearing impaired but it can be of great assistance when used in conjunction with the hearing aid.
WHAT CAN YOU DO TO HELP?
Now you've some ideas of the problems facing people with impaired hearing, you would probably like to know how to help.
Firstly, when you are talking to someone with a hearing loss make sure they can see you clearly.
In other words don't try and talk to them from another room. If you do they probably won't hear you and even if they do, they won't be able to understand what you are saying. Just remember; give them every chance to see your face clearly. If you remember only this, you'll find it much easier talking to the person with a hearing impairment.
THAT'S ALL VERY WELL BUT HE/SHE CAN HEAR WHEN THEY WANT TO......
How often do people say this about the people with a hearing impairment? There are of course some people who deliberately don't hear what is said to them: we've all done it at some time. When you are watching an interesting programme on T.V. you never hear requests to go and cut the lawn. But for most people with a hearing impairment it is the result of misunderstanding. Quite often people with a hearing impairment don't know you are talking to them. The result is that they don't concentrate on what's being talked about. Make sure they know you are talking to them, but remember one thing, don't tap people on the shoulder - they might tap you back.
There are other ways of' attracting attention. If you can't think of any, ask the person for suggestions. It's just that tapping can become very annoying and should be avoided if at all possible. If there are still problems, please remember that sometimes, especially when people are tired, concentration can be very hard.
Another related problem here is concerned with background noise. This doesn't mean the radio and TV, but includes things such as clattering tea cups, knives and forks, pet birds chirping and even clocks ticking and chiming. Obviously people will find it much harder to hear when there is noise.
HOW SHOULD I TALK T0 THE PERSON WITH A HEARING IMPAIRMENT?
In one word, normally. But what is normal? It means speaking naturally, and this should be distinct and clear. Above all don't shout. Remember that with a hearing aid this can cause great discomfort. Sometimes it helps to speak a little slower but not too slowly. This will make understanding even more difficult.
WHERE SHOULD I STAND WHEN TALKING TO THE PERSON WITH A HEARING IMPAIRMENT?
Where they can see all of your face. If at all possible try and be on the same eye level as them at all times. In other words if they are sitting, you sit. If they are standing, you stand, and remember face them at all times. With children it is important to get down to their level or to raise them to yours. Also try and be in a position where light is shining on your face, it makes it much easier to speechread. If the sun or a light is shining in their eyes it will be so much harder to understand you.
WHAT ELSE CAN I DO?
If the message is not understood the first time - rephrase it. The more information you give, the greater the chance of the person fully understanding what you are saving.
If you follow the advice given in this leaflet it will make communication with the person with a hearing impairment a lot easier. If you can be patient, and sometimes this is hard, communication will become so much more enjoyable.
The main form of communication is people talking with each other, and if you can help make this easy and enjoyable the hard talk facing the person with a hearing impairment will become a lot less trying. It won't only help the other person it will also help you.