Get the ATTENTION of the person who is hard of hearing before you speak. If necessary, touch the person to get their attention. Wait until the person can see you before speaking.

The LIGHT should be on the face of the speaker (you). This avoids shadows on your face and ensures that the person who is hard of hearing can see your lip movement and facial expressions.

Remember, FACE TO FACE speaking only. Do not try to carry on a conversation when the hard of hearing person's back is toward you and never speak directly into his or her ear. This distorts your message and hides the visual clues he or she relies on (i.e. facial expressions).

POSITION yourself about three to six feet away from the person who is hard of hearing.

SPEAK CLEARLY and at a moderate pace. If you speak quickly, the person who is hard of hearing cannot read your lips. Speaking too slowly exaggerates your lip movement, making it difficult to read your lips and distorts the visual clues from your facial expression.

You may speak slightly louder than normal, but DON'T SHOUT. Remember that shouting won't make your message clearer but it will distort the sound of your voice and cause stress for the person who is hard of hearing.

Keep you HEAD UP; minimize head and body movement, DON'T COVER UP YOUR MOUTH with hands or other objects, refrain from chewing gum and smoking.

CLUE the person who is hard of hearing into the conversation topic whenever possible. This is especially important when changing the subject.

People who are hard of hearing may sometimes ask you to REPEAT what you have said. If after two or three repetitions, the person still does not understand what is being said, make your statement shorter, use simpler sentences or REPHRASE the sentence. Repeating the same sentence that is not understood causes frustration for both of you and the person who is hard of hearing.



AVOID NOISY BACKGROUND SITUATIONS.  Remember that if the person who is hard of hearing wears a hearing aid, all sound is amplified, not just your voice. Even a person with "normal hearing" may have a difficult time following conversation when there is background noise.

BE PATIENT, positive and relaxed. The person who is hard of hearing relies on body language, gestures and facial expressions to understand you. If you appear anxious or stressed he or she will get mixed signals from you.

TALK TO the person who is hard of hearing or deafened, not about him or her.

Use TECHNOLOGY with readable text messages such as computers, email, real time captioning in meetings and TTY phones. Hand written notes are also helpful.


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