 | Ed Clausen M.A
M.A. Audiologist, CCC-A is a licensed Audiologist under the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. He received his CCC-A in 1994 and serves as Company Audiologist for the 18 company offices of Midwest Hearing Aids, Inc. in Kansas. He holds memberships in the American Speech/Language and Hearing Association, the Kansas Speech/Language and Hearing Association, and the Kansas Hearing Aid Association. You may contact Ed at Midwest Hearing Aids corporate office in Wichita at 1 (800) 668-4055 or locally at (316) 264-2411. |
Audiology
2001-12-01 15:56:00
Talk to everyone
Question: When recently speaking to a group, I found myself going out of my way to talk to the one hearing impaired person in the group, which was awkward for me and probably embarrassing for her. How should I talk to a person with a hearing impairment in a group?
Answer: The rules of good communication are universal to any situation, but you can adapt them to group situations. Some of those general rules and applications to group speaking are:Speak more clearly. This means slowing down a little bit, speaking clearly and articulating well. Do not exaggerate this; when you exaggerate you'll distort your mouth and face as well as the speech and the hearing impaired person won't be able to read your lips as well. When speaking before a group, you'll probably be making an effort to speak clearly anyway. Don't yell. When you yell, you'll over-emphasize the vowel sounds of speech which can "mask" the crucial consonant sounds. In a group situation, you'll probably be speaking up anyway; just remember not to raise your voice too much.Allow an unobscured view of your face. Hearing impaired people rely very heavily on speechreading, which incorporates lipreading and reading gestures, facial expressions, and other nonverbal communication. If your face is not easily visible, this can significantly affect how a hearing impaired individual understands you. Things that interfere with speechreading include turning your back (to write on a chalkboard, for example), blocking the view of your mouth with your hand, long hair that blocks others' view of your face, facial hair on men, and even smoking or chewing gum. In a group situation, you can apply this principle by not speaking until you are completely turned around and facing the group, and keeping your hands and hair away from your face. You can also make understanding much easier for a hearing impaired person by staying near their position and, while you don't have to always speak directly to that person, making sure that your whole face is always in their full view. By doing this, you will not only be making sure that they get the best acoustic signal since you will be close to them, but also that they can get the full benefit of all the visual cues as well. You also don't have to embarrass the individual by talking exclusively to him or her.Make use of other nonverbal communication. Use gestures when appropriate. Write out an outline of your presentation on a board or hand out notes before the presentation. Summarize your main points when appropriate. There are assistive devices that help a hearing impaired person hear in large group situations. If you are making your presentation in a location that hosts group events frequently, they may have these devices available for your use. These systems use either infrared light (invisible to humans) or radio waves to transmit speech from a microphone (worn by the speaker) to a receiver (used by the hearing impaired person). This receiver either has headphones for the user to wear, or it can send the signal directly into the user's hearing aids. This effectively "moves" the user's ears right up by the speaker's mouth, and also allows the user to raise the volume.The additional complications that hearing impaired listeners experience in group situations include distance between them and the speaker, background noise in the room, and reverberation. By using good communication skills, you can not only make understanding easier for them, but also for everyone listening to you.
