Have you met someone recently in your community who seems to have untreated hearing loss? When you discover this need, you might feel like you don’t know how to help. You might even feel unable to begin a conversation about hearing loss, feeling afraid that you will offend the person or make things worse. Once it is established that the person has untreated hearing loss, you might remain unsure of what you can do to accommodate these needs. For instance, some people with hearing loss would like you to speak more loudly, whereas others find that embarrassing. What can you do to offer your support to those with untreated hearing loss in your community? The following are some helpful tips and strategies to offer your assistance without making matters more difficult. The best assistance you can provide is to encourage treatment from one of our hearing health professionals, so let’s consider some ways to open up that conversation as the ultimate form of assistance.
Establishing Trust
When you begin a conversation with a community member about untreated hearing loss, you will want to make sure to establish trust rather than jumping in with your own solutions. The first step is to ask questions about a specific situation. If you noticed that a person was asking you to repeat yourself or just saying “What?” several times in a conversation, you can ask if it is difficult to hear in this specific context, room, or sonic context. If the person admits that it is difficult to hear in this specific place, then you can ask if it is common to find it difficult to communicate. That person might tell you that they always have trouble hearing others when there is background noise or that it is hard to distinguish one voice from others in the room. You might find out that the person has one ear that is better than the other or that children’s voices are hard to hear. When this person discloses hearing difficulties to you, make sure to be an active listener. Give your full attention to the person and do your best to show you care. When they have described their challenges with hearing, you can simply ask what you can do to help. You might be surprised how precisely this person describes their individual need for accommodations.
Community Connections
Not only can you offer your own support when this person discloses a need for accommodations, but you can also connect with other resources in the community. Assistive technology has advanced rapidly when it comes to untreated hearing loss, and there are more options for communication support than ever. Live voice-to-text technology is now available on smartphones and video conference platforms, making it possible to provide a continuous feed of visible text while a person is speaking. These services are not perfect, but they can offer some helpful context in a noisy situation, particularly when there is background noise or crosstalk. More advanced assistive technology is available, as well. You can connect your community members with accommodation specialists at many institutions, including government, education, and cultural organizations. Those specialists will have expertise in the types of assistive technology that is available and which types might be of service.
Hearing Aids: The Durable Solution
Facilitating a conversation with your community member about hearing loss is only one piece of the puzzle. If you discover that the person has untreated hearing loss, then the next step is to encourage the durable solution of treatment. Although treatment now comes in many forms, most people with hearing loss can benefit from hearing aids. These devices amplify the specific sounds that are difficult for an individual to hear while leaving other sounds, such a background noise, where it belongs in the background. The first step is to encourage and offer you support with scheduling a hearing test. That diagnostic assessment will give us a complete picture of your community member’s individual hearing needs and will enable us to recommend the right hearing aids to improve communication. With hearing aids in place, future conversations can be easier and more fluid, so don’t hesitate to encourage a test.
