"They might shout or slow down their words to an exaggerated crawl- veeeerrry slooowly -thinking it helps. But with hearing loss, louder isn't always better, and neither is overly slow speech. Both can distort the shape of words on the lips, making lipreading harder instead of easier. Others forget the basics. They turn away, cover their mouths, or call out from another room, expecting us to catch every word. (Spoiler alert: We won't.)"
"Siri doesn't always understand us. "Hey Siri, what's the latest weather forecast?" "I didn't get that." So we repeat ourselves. "Hey Siri, what's the latest weather forecast?" But this time we face the phone, position our mouth near the microphone, and speak clearly, carefully enunciating each word. "Cloudy with a chance of showers in the afternoon." She gets it this time. Hmm. Siri is a lot like me."
Good communication with people who have hearing loss begins by gaining their attention and exercising patience. Visual cues, eye contact, or a light touch help people focus. Facing the person enables speechreading, which uses lips, facial expressions, and gestures to fill in missing sounds. Louder speech and exaggerated slow speech can distort lip shapes and hinder understanding. Avoid turning away, covering the mouth, or calling from another room. Positioning and clear, well-enunciated speech—like speaking to a voice assistant—improves comprehension. Reducing background noise and speaking clearly and kindly supports better connection and reduces listening effort.
Read at Psychology Today
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