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Communicating with someone
who has hearing loss Gemma Twitchen
Senior Audiology Specialist
WHO ARE WE?
• The UK’s largest charity taking
action on hearing loss, deafness
and tinnitus.
• Action on Hearing Loss is the
new name for the Royal National
Institute for Deaf People (RNID).
WHO IS DEAF OR HAS A HEARING
LOSS?
PEOPLE WITH HEARING LOSS IN THE
UK
London population
UK
11 million
1 in 6 of us
?
8.3 million (2014)
THE SCALE OF THE PROBLEM
World Health Organisation (WHO)
SUMMARY: TYPES OF HEARING LOSS
Type Area
affected
Causes
Conductive
Middle ear • Blockage
• Damage
• Infection
Sensorineural
Inner ear
(hair cells)
or auditory
nerve
• Noise
• Drug side
effects
• Genetics
• Infections
• Ageing
conductive sensorineural
THE IMPACT OF HEARING LOSS
• Mild hearing loss – may use a hearing aid or find lipreading useful, particularly in noisy situations.
• Moderate hearing loss – may have difficulty in hearing what is said without a hearing aid. Many will lipread. Some may use sign language or need other communication support.
• Severe hearing loss – may have difficulty in following what is being said even with a hearing aid. Most will lipread and some will use sign language or need other communication support.
• Profound hearing loss – may find that hearing aids are of little benefit for communication. Most will lipread, and they will need some form of communication support. BSL may be their first or preferred language.
• ‘People with hearing loss’ - means people with all levels of hearing loss, including people who are profoundly deaf.
DO’S AND DON’TS
• Make sure you have the
person’s attention
• Face the person you are
talking to
• Keep your face and mouth
clear
• Keep background noise to a
minimum and make sure
there is enough light
• Use natural facial
expression & gesture
• Make sure your face or
mouth is not hidden behind
your hands, cigarettes,
beard etc.
• Write things down if
needed.
• Give the other person time
to respond and use different
words if they don’t
understand
DO
DO’S AND DON’TS
• Talk childishly, over slowly, or too fast
• Shout or talk too loudly
• Interrupt or finish sentences for people
• Over-emphasise gesture / speech
• Have more than one person talking at the same time
• Use too much jargon
• Ever say “It Doesn’t Matter”
DON’T
WHAT IS BSL?
British Sign Language (BSL) is a visual
spatial language; this means that
information is shown through
combinations of handshapes, hand
orientation, hand movements, body
movement and facial expressions.
FINGERSPELLING
• Fingerspelling is a method of spelling words using
hand movements.
• Fingerspelling is used in sign language to spell
out names of people and places for which there is
not a sign.
• Fingerspelling can also be used to spell words for
signs that the signer does not know the sign for, or
to clarify a sign that is not known by the person
reading the signer.
• Fingerspelling signs are often also incorporated
into other signs. e.g. the sign for 'gold' is the
fingerspelt 'g' and then moving your hands away
in a shimmering motion.
FINGERSPELLING
INTRODUCTION TO HEARING LOSS
Lipreading exercise
DEAF BLINDNESS
• Sometimes referred to as Dual sensory loss
• Does not necessarily mean that someone is totally
Deaf and Blind
• 356,000 deafblind people in the UK
• May be congenital or acquired later in life
• Largest group effected are older people
• May communicate with signing, objects, braille, other
communication systems such as “communicators”
WHAT TO DO IF SOMEONE HAS
HEARING LOSS
• Need to see to see the GP
• Referral to Audiology or Ear
Nose and Throat
• Audiology can be private or
NHS
NHS provides free good quality digital hearing aids for free
WHAT DO WE DO?
• Information line
• Residential care and
independent living – 19 registered care homes
– 9 supporter living services
– 16 community services
• Give advice and practical
support – Hear to Help
– Hear to Meet
WHAT DO WE DO?
• Research, Policy and Campaigns
– Health and Social Care research
– Campaign against hearing aid cuts in NHS
– Subtitle campaign
• Biomedical Research Program
– Fund research in the UK and around the world
– Our research programme receives no government funding
– All of our investment in research comes from donations
