Deafness tips for deaf people and hearing allies

There are lots of things about hearing difficulties (which I'll call deaf/deafness here) that deaf people and those around us do not know or understand. Often we deaf people get told "listen harder" "pay more attention" "your hearing is selective" when actually the spoken and other communication is just not acessible to us and the speaker doesn't understand why.

This webpage is an attempt to explain a few key things about deafness, hearing aids and 'hearing as a deaf person' that I hope will help deaf and hearing people understand and communicate better and more kindly. Feel free to go through this with your friends and family.

Realistic expectations of hearing aids

Hearing aids can never never replicate "normal" hearing.

Deaf awareness is the most useful thing other people can do.

Listening while deaf is a LOT more tiring than for most hearing people. This is known as "concentration fatigue". This is very similar to "Zoom fatigue" that people experienced with lots of video calls after 2020. Sometimes deaf people need to turn their hearing aids off to rest or avoid cognitive overload.

It is helpful for deaf people (including hearing aid users) and those around them to have realistic expectations.

If hearing aids are not working well, it is worth asking the provider to try to improve things. Make notes of specific issues as specific examples can help the audiologist understand the exact issue. Sometimes audiology take someone more seriously if they have a companion with them. In many case hearing aid retuning or tweaks can help.

Some deafness facts

Deaf people are more likely to be more deaf in the higher frequencies. Most deafness is caused by ageing (called presbyacusis) which involves the high frequencies deteriorating over time while leaving the lower frequencies more preserved.

High frequencies are needed to be able to hear sounds like sss f th k sh ch g which are needed for clarity and intelligibility of English speech (other languages may have different critical frequencies). English speech without good high frequency hearing sounds muffled, like mumbling.

More than 50% of people over 55 years old and 80% of people over 70 years old have some hearing loss [RNID].

A deaf person's speech is not indicative of how much or little they can hear. Most deaf people will not "sound deaf".

Deafness and background noise

With or without hearing aids, a deaf person will usually struggle to hear well with any kind of background noise.

Reducing background noise is a key element of deaf awareness.

Hearing well in background noise requires two fully working ears. Sounds hit each ear at a different volume which helps hearing people know which direction the sound has come from. This directionality is needed to separate sounds from one another.

Some hearing people with impairments like autism, ADHD, chronic fatigue and similar can struggle to hear well through background noise due to the increased cognitive demand that it requires.

Hearing aid microphones and distance

Hearing aid microphones (which are tiny) are optimised for sounds within 1.5m of the wearer. Sounds further away than 1.5m are picked up a lot less well.

Being close to the deaf person when speaking to them will help them hear you better.

Making sure the deaf person can see your face will give the best quality and clear sound.

'Streamer devices' or 'radio aids' may help a deaf person hear distant sounds such as a lecture better than with a hearing aid or unaided hearing alone. These devices reduce the distance between sound source and microphone picking up the sound.

Acoustic environment affects ease of hearing

Lots of hard surfaces in a room e.g. a kitchen/bathroom causes 'reverberation' which is sounds reflecting off the hard surfaces creating a sort of echo effect which becomes background noise.

The more reverberation there is, the harder it is to hear for anyone, but more so for a deaf person. A deaf person cannot use directional hearing to separate the desired speech from the echoing effect.

Anything you can do to 'absorb sound' such as adding soft furnishings can reduce reverberations and make it easier for everyone to hear.

Deaf listeners and attention

Many deaf people cannot switch focus to a new sound as quickly or easily as hearing people. By the time a deaf person realises they are being spoken to, they may have missed most of the first sentence.

Getting a deaf person's attention and pausing to give them time to switch focus and acknowledge you before speaking will help. Finding a sound that the deaf person can hear well, or a non-auditory alert such as waving, tapping or flashing the light might be worth exploring.

If you are doing a multi-step activity with a deaf person. It can be useful to discuss your task and develop an agreed communication strategy before you start.

Another strategy after attention is sought, can be to give the deaf person context such as the topic first, then the details e.g. "Food! What are we having for tea tonight?". It isn't rude if it's an agreed communication strategy. In sign languages this is called "topic-comment" grammar structure. Knowing the topic makes it easier to make correct sense of partial information.

Lipreading

Lipreading can be a useful supplement to listening but it is not magic. Only some speech sounds are lipreadable and it can be very tiring because of the concentration required. Many people unconsciously lipread to help them hear (which is partly why masked speakers are harder to hear).

Lipreading is a skill that can be learned and improved. Lipreading classes (now available online) for deaf people or their close people can be good for deafness adjustment as well as improving lipreading skill.

Successful lipreading requires the speaker not to obscure their face and to speak slowly, and maybe slightly more loudly, but not too unnaturally. Different accents show differently on the face.

I recommend watching this lipreading video by Rachel Kolb.

Sign Language

Sign language can be useful to learn. You don't have to become fluent to get some benefit as classes often include deaf awareness and 'non-auditory' communication strategies as well as Deaf Pride (a refreshing antidote to prevalent shame put onto deaf people because of our difficulties with hearing).

Different countries have different sign languages as they evolved naturally and have their own histories. In the UK we have British Sign Language (BSL).

It can be useful if some of your close people learn sign language with you. I recommend learning from a Deaf tutor if possible.

Captions and transcripts

Captions (sometimes called subtitles) on video media or transcripts for audio media can be helpful. Captions and transcripts do not make deaf people lazy they help with context and understanding of partially heard spoken information.

Automated captions can be useful if the deaf person is aware they may contain errors but accurate corrected captions which identify different speakers are always best. Decent quality microphones e.g. headset mic will maximise the accuracy of automated online meeting captions.

Chrome web browser has auto captioning which will pop up on any audio or video played through it. Other captioning options exist.

Communicating with strangers

Some deaf people may wish to practice how to tell strangers they need deaf-awareness to hear well.

Different situations require different solutions. Some people find deaf badges "I'm deaf" "I lipread" "Please speak clearly" etc which are widely available online helpful.

I have some deaf awareness and deafness disclosure information on this website that you are welcome to copy and adapt for your own needs. You may need to try different things and pick what works best for you and the specific situation.

Thanks to various YACF denizens for helping me compile this document based off your own experiences.

page last modified Tuesday, 21-Jan-2025 00:52:49 GMT