Health Smart:  How to talk to someone with hearing loss?

1. Don't shout!
*Speak in a normal voice articulate as clearly as possible; yelling does not help a person with hearing loss hear you any better. If your voice is particularly quite, you should speak louder.

2. Don't lean in to the ear!
*Almost all people with hearing loss read lips.Don't speak directly into their ear because the person won't able to see your lips.

3. Don't forget to eliminate white noise!
*Most people with hearing loss hava a hard time distinguishing speech over a noisy air conditioner, a humming fish tank, or anything that whirs, murmurs or rumbles. Don't try to chat over the tv.

4. Don't all talk at once!
*At a dinner party or meeting, where there may be eight to ten people present, try to have one general conversation instead of several ovetlapping ones .

5. Don't say "Never mind, it doesn't matter"!
*If someone doesn't hear what you have said after you've restated it two or three times, don't give up. Rephrase and retry. To the person who can't hear you, everything matters.