4 Essential Communication Rules for Family Members of Hearing Aid Users

2025-11-28

How can family members effectively communicate with a hearing-impaired person after they start wearing hearing aids?

Hearing aids are an important tool to help people with hearing loss improve communication, but many family members mistakenly believe that hearing aids can restore 100% of hearing. In fact, while hearing aids can partially restore hearing, the brain needs 3-6 months to rebuild its sound processing abilities; this process depends on neuroplasticity. Furthermore, in noisy environments, the speech recognition rate of a hearing-impaired person may still decrease by 30-50%. Therefore, family members need to adopt certain strategies when communicating with a hearing-impaired person to ensure effective communication.

I. Three Communication Principles

1. Spatial Positioning

Ensure sufficient lighting: When communicating with a hearing-impaired person, ensure the room is well-lit and avoid shadows obscuring the face so that the hearing-impaired person can clearly see the speaker's mouth movements.

Face-to-face communication: Avoid speaking with your back turned; face the hearing-impaired person directly, keep your eyes level, do not cover their mouth, and ensure that the hearing-impaired person can make maximum use of lip reading and body language.

2. Speaking Style

Speak clearly and naturally: Speak clearly and naturally. Speaking too slowly will disrupt word flow, while speaking too quickly will cause high-frequency consonants to be lost. Therefore, maintain a moderate speaking speed. Also, avoid shouting or exaggerated pronunciation to prevent distorting mouth movements and affecting lip reading.

• Attract Attention: Before starting to speak, attract the hearing-impaired person's attention by calling their name, waving, or gently patting their arm to ensure they are focused on the conversation.
• Avoid Simultaneous Speaking: When communicating with a hearing-impaired person, avoid multiple people speaking at the same time. Let only one person speak at a time so that the hearing-impaired person can better concentrate.

3. Information Confirmation

During the conversation, if encountering complex topics, repeat key information multiple times to ensure the hearing-impaired person hears and understands. The hearing-impaired person can also repeat the conversation themselves to further confirm the content.

II. Environmental Optimization

According to the World Health Organization (WHO) acoustic guidelines, for every 10 dB increase in background noise, the speech recognition rate of hearing-impaired individuals decreases by 20%. This means that even with hearing aids, speech recognition accuracy for hearing-impaired individuals may still decrease by 30-50% in noisy environments. Therefore, family members should communicate with hearing-impaired individuals in quiet environments, avoiding noise interference from nearby appliances.

III. Using Assistive Devices

• Using Gestures and Facial Expressions: When speaking, use gestures and facial expressions appropriately to aid expression and help the hearing-impaired individual better understand the meaning. Especially in noisy environments, if the hearing-impaired user frequently furrows their brow or unconsciously utters questioning words during conversation, nonverbal methods should be used more frequently.
• Providing Written Information: For important information, written text or visual images can be provided. However, it should be noted that not all hearing-impaired individuals benefit from written information, and this approach is not suitable for all situations.
• Using Assistive Devices: If available assistive hearing devices, such as microphones, should be used whenever possible, such as during lectures or meetings.

IV. Monitoring the Hearing-Impaired Individual's Feedback

• Confirming Understanding: During communication, regularly confirm whether the hearing-impaired individual understands the information being conveyed. If the other person doesn't understand, try rephrasing it in a different way instead of simply repeating it.
• Listen patiently: Give the hearing-impaired person enough time to respond. Don't interrupt or finish their sentences for them to avoid increasing their stress. Be patient and avoid showing impatience or frustration, as these negative emotions can affect the hearing-impaired person's mindset.

By using these communication tips, family members can communicate more effectively with hearing-impaired individuals wearing hearing aids, reducing misunderstandings and unnecessary stress during communication, and helping them better integrate into family and social life.