How to Communicate With the Hard-of-Hearing

1. Get the person’s attention first, by tapping their shoulder, waiting for them to look at you or waving.
2. Stand so that the person can see your face clearly. If your face is in shadow or a bright light is behind you, the light will be in their eyes and they will not be able to see your lips clearly.
3. Speak somewhat slower but do not draw out your speech or make exaggerated lip movements.
4. If one way of saying something does not work, try changing the words, don’t just keep repeating the same thing. Or, if you know fingerspelling, you can spell the word that is giving them trouble.
5. Do not accidently cover your mouth with your hand. Do not smoke or chew while speaking. Beards and mustaches should be trimmed off the lips.
6. Do not turn away from the person while you are talking. Even one word spoken while you glance away can confuse your message.
7. Do not shout. If the person is hard-of-hearing you may speak somewhat louder than normal. It will make no difference to the deaf person how loud you speak and shouting only distorts the face and makes speechreading difficult.
8. Reading and writing are tools to use in communicating with a deaf person, but remember that for many deaf people sign language, not English is their language. Use brief, simple sentences. Do not use figures of speech such as “beat around the bush” or “ keep an eye out for.” Apply the same rule when speaking.
9. Check to be sure the person has really understood you and, likewise, don’t pretend that you understand if you don’t