{"id":263,"date":"2017-07-06T02:30:57","date_gmt":"2017-07-06T06:30:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lostmyhearing.com\/?page_id=263"},"modified":"2024-02-18T13:11:15","modified_gmt":"2024-02-18T17:11:15","slug":"tips-and-hints","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/lostmyhearing.com\/?page_id=263","title":{"rendered":"Tips and Hints"},"content":{"rendered":"

These Tips and Hints are my own – other’s may feel differently, so take what’s relevant to you. \u00a0Nothing is set in stone. \u00a0I’ll update this as I think of it, but here are a few tips and hints when talking to hearing impaired or deaf people:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Gently get their attention so they know you’re talking to them.<\/li>\n
  2. Face them so they can see your lips and face.<\/li>\n
  3. Speak slowly. \u00a0Talking louder distorts sound, it doesn’t make speech clear. \u00a0Speak in a normal voice, but slow it down to help the listener distinguish words.<\/li>\n
  4. Don’t try to whisper into a person’s hearing aid. \u00a0It just doesn’t help and makes for an awkward situation.<\/li>\n
  5. Be patient. \u00a0If you have to repeat and the person still doesn’t get the word, either choose another word, spell it, or write it down.<\/li>\n
  6. If you have a deaf person in your life, learn finger spelling. It’s easy and works great in a pinch! (You both have to know it for this to work.)<\/li>\n
  7. This may be the most important one – please don’t say “never mind” (or words to that effect) when a person who can’t hear isn’t getting what you’re saying. It’s very hurtful and insulting – it tells us we’re not worth the trouble of trying to help us understand. \u00a0Even if you have to write something down, please don’t say never mind and walk away.<\/li>\n
  8. If someone close to you loses their hearing, ask how they are and if there’s anything you can do. Pretending it didn’t happen feels like not caring.<\/li>\n
  9. Don’t keep trying to ‘fix’ or change us. \u00a0Believe me, we’ve checked out our options and sometimes acceptance and understanding is the best thing you can do for us.<\/li>\n
  10. When you do have trouble getting something across to us, please don’t say you wish we could hear. \u00a0We wish we could hear too, but we can’t. I’m always hurt when someone says that to me in that context.<\/li>\n
  11. Please don’t try to talk to us from another room, when our back is to you, or any other situation where we can’t possibly see your face. \u00a0When we don’t have speech understanding, even if we catch the sound of your voice, we’ll have no idea what the words are. Sometimes we don’t know you’re talking at all, so don’t think we’re ignoring you.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    If you are the hearing impaired or deaf person:<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Tell people you are hearing impaired or deaf. \u00a0Don’t try to bluff. \u00a0In the long run it doesn’t work and is way too stressful.<\/li>\n
    2. Ask people to face you and speak slowly. \u00a0Tell them when you don’t get a word. \u00a0Ask them to repeat or use a different word. \u00a0They’re not mind readers and neither are we.<\/li>\n
    3. Ask people for help when you need it. \u00a0Even strangers are willing to help if they can. Don’t be shy about not hearing. It’s not a faux pas.<\/li>\n
    4. Be extra careful crossing streets, in parking lots, even on the sidewalks. \u00a0People can’t tell we’re deaf (or hearing impaired) just by looking at us and may expect us to hear them coming. \u00a0Always watch your surroundings.<\/li>\n
    5. Get and use whatever assistive devices you possibly can. \u00a0Every little bit helps. And take good care of your devices. Make sure you always have spare batteries on you so you don’t get caught in a hearing void.<\/li>\n
    6. If you are driving, remember that you won’t hear sirens and won’t know emergency vehicles are there until they are close. Scan your mirrors frequently. \u00a0Watch for the flashing lights. \u00a0And always be extra careful when you’re driving. \u00a0Again, people don’t know you can’t hear them.<\/li>\n
    7. Try to help people help you. \u00a0Pay close attention when someone is trying to tell you something. Try not to get frustrated. \u00a0Try to keep a sense of humor about thing and make people more comfortable.<\/li>\n
    8. When you’re in restaurants, choose your seat carefully. \u00a0You want to be able to see your companion(s) lips, so make sure there’s enough light on their face. \u00a0If you have hearing aids, check with your audiologist to see what the best seating would be for your hearing aids. For instance, I prefer a booth to a table in the middle of the room when possible. If we’re at a table, I try to keep the noise behind me so my hearing aids pick up less room noise. \u00a0Find out what’s best for you.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Assistive Devices and Ideas:<\/p>\n

        \n
      1. If you wear hearing aids, make sure you have the right ones for you. \u00a0Don’t be afraid to try something because it doesn’t look right on paper. \u00a0Sometimes reality and what’s on paper are different.<\/li>\n
      2. Don’t be afraid to tell your audiologist if something isn’t working or you don’t like it.<\/li>\n
      3. Take care of your devices. \u00a0Keep them clean and dry. Protect them. They are your link to sound.<\/li>\n
      4. Don’t get a bunch of gadgets just to have them. \u00a0Make sure you get what works for you!<\/li>\n
      5. Think about your life and what would make you feel more secure and confident. \u00a0For instance, I keep security cameras around my house so if the Wonder Pups bark, I can look to see if there’s anything amiss. I keep a pen in my bag so someone can write things down if I don’t get what they say. \u00a0DHH wears a special clip on microphone that brings his voice right into my hearing aids – especially when we’re in the car, in restaurants, or it’s dark. Be creative. \u00a0Think about what you need.<\/li>\n
      6. I recently went to the theater to see “Hello Dolly” and it wasn’t a captioned performance. \u00a0In order to get the most out of it, I searched online for the script and read it the night before. \u00a0When I was at the show, I was able to put some context to what I was speech reading and because I read the script, I was able to keep up better. \u00a0It might not always be possible, but it’s worth a try if the script is available.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        Miscellaneous:<\/p>\n

        There’s a show on Netflix called “Switched at Birth.” \u00a0Without giving away the story, I can tell you that deafness is a big part of the show. \u00a0If you would like to really understand what it’s like, they’ve nailed it. \u00a0I wondered how they ‘knew’ me. \u00a0Even if you watch only the first two episodes, they can give you a lot of insight into what it’s like for us, how people deal with us, how we handle it, etc. \u00a0I highly recommend it.<\/p>\n

        More to come as I think of them. \u00a0Check back often!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        These Tips and Hints are my own – other’s may feel differently, so take what’s relevant to you. \u00a0Nothing is set in stone. \u00a0I’ll update this as I think of it, but here are a few tips and hints when talking to hearing impaired or deaf people: Gently get their attention so they know you’re […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-263","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lostmyhearing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/263","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lostmyhearing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lostmyhearing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lostmyhearing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lostmyhearing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=263"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/lostmyhearing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/263\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":538,"href":"https:\/\/lostmyhearing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/263\/revisions\/538"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lostmyhearing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=263"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}