Being an ally to people with hearing loss is not just about being supportive of their hearing loss journey, it’s about engaging them in conversations to know how best to support their needs.
The Deaf and hard-of-hearing communities have their own identities, cultures, and even languages that a good ally must be familiar with and sensitive to in order to be helpful in the right way.
I can’t emphasize how impactful it is for hearing people to gain an understanding of how to communicate with us.
Helping a loved one deal with and adapt to hearing loss will involve compromise from everyone involved, but if we work together and support our loved ones, we can overcome the stigma and enjoy a harmonious lifestyle.
Often, hearing individuals can become easily frustrated when someone with hearing loss doesn’t hear them. But it’s important to realize that the frustration and difficulty communicating goes both ways. The best approach is to be patient.
Not everyone with hearing loss communicates in the same way. Some people don’t communicate with spoken language, and not everyone signs. By using alternative forms of communication like writing, email, or even gestures, we can open the possibilities of communication and understanding one another.
There are a variety of different scenarios in everyday life that can be incredibly difficult for those who have hearing loss. For instance, speaking on the phone, talking behind glass walls or a mask, not being able to face someone while they are speaking, are all communication barriers that people with hearing loss must face regularly.
It can be helpful to avoid covering your mouth and to use eye contact when speaking to them. When talking on the phone, video-calling can be helpful as well. This is even more important to keep in mind if the individual with hearing loss communicates through sign language.
Individuals with hearing loss aren’t intentionally ignoring you when they're silent after a question. Instead, they might just not have heard you. Try to avoid saying, “never mind,” as this phrase can make your communication partner feel left out and dismissed. When asked to repeat yourself, rephrase your sentence with different words and sounds to make what you said clearer for them.
Closed captions can help those with hearing loss and others to follow along more closely when watching TV and to keep everyone from missing out on important details.
Living with hearing loss has its challenges, but by sharing a few tips with friends and family, we can make communication more accessible.
Providing the support a significant other or family member needs doesn’t have to be difficult when they’re coming to terms with hearing loss.
“The Better Connect Academy” is an online class you can take to learn about the different communication methods you can use when talking to someone with hearing loss.
If an individual with hearing loss wears hearing aids, has a cochlear implant, or in some cases both, they’ll usually have an ear they can hear from better. Because of this, you should be mindful of where they like to sit or where they’d prefer you to sit to give them a more comfortable listening experience. Also, remote microphones can be integrated with hearing aids and cochlear implants to support communication in noisy environments and over distance.
Keep in mind that hearing devices can get knocked off the ear or head and the person might want to stop and reorient the device back into place. It might be helpful to communicate in advance whether they want to take their hearing device off when getting intimate or figure out signals for when it’s too dark to see.
Most people would agree that communication in a relationship is essential. Since people with hearing loss may have more challenges with regards to communication, patience and understanding can go a long way.
It’s perfectly normal to have questions while in a relationship with someone who has hearing loss. In fact, curiosity is appreciated. You’ll pick up on things over time and maybe even learn more about yourself.
If you’re ever uncomfortable, it’s important to talk openly about it. For example, if your partner keeps the music loud, ask nicely to find a compromise.
Because individuals with hearing loss rely on visual cues to varying degrees, avoid sitting directly in a bright light or window as it can make it more difficult to see you clearly.
When working with an employee or interviewing a candidate with hearing loss, let them know that they can always ask questions and ask for clarification when something is not clear. This will make a more comfortable atmosphere for them to feel welcomed and accepted.
Have a form of written communication as a good fallback when needed. Most video platforms have a chat feature built-in, but you can also use a whiteboard.
Using an interpreter can help when interviewing a candidate who communicates using sign language. Make sure the interpreter has access to sound and video before the interview so they can communicate clearly on both sides.
Make sure the speaker and interpreter are visible at all times, and that their thumbnails in virtual group chats and interviews are larger and pinned. If they’re not pinned, it can sometimes be hard to find the person speaking, depending on the number of people on the call.
When you’re a teacher of a student with hearing loss, they’ll benefit if you learn about the mechanics of their hearing loss and by being willing to be creative in finding solutions to issues that may arise. And, of course, effective communication with the student is key.
When you haven’t had experience with hearing loss, you may not know exactly how a child’s hearing is affected. A little research into the fundamentals of hearing loss can make it much easier to understand the challenges students with hearing loss face in the classroom. With more education, you can address these issues with helpful techniques like lowering vocal tones, preferential seating, enunciating, and facing the student when speaking.
If there are hearing care professionals at the school, for example a hearing itinerant, speech-language therapist, or a resource teacher, it would be important as the teacher to communicate with these other professionals, as well as collaborate with them.
Listening is exhausting for someone with hearing loss. If you’ve ever been in a foreign country without speaking the language fluently, think about how you felt trying to make out meanings, translating signs, and comprehending language all day long.
If you have a student with hearing loss, you may want to set little reminders to regularly check in on them throughout even the busiest of days. That small step can make a big difference in the child’s experience.
If you create an environment in which a child with hearing loss is comfortable speaking up for themselves when they can’t hear, you will undoubtedly continue to change the lives of the students you teach.
People with hearing loss have to navigate multiple accessibility barriers every day. We can all work on advocating for better accommodations, implementing more accessible design, using assistive hearing technology, and being mindful of scenarios that would provide challenges for someone with hearing loss, such as:
