This blog is based on a letter we received from Beryl, who is partially hearing.  It gives some accurate insights into her life with hearing loss, which many of us can identify with.

Those with some hearing may call themselves partially hearing, partially deaf, hard of hearing or someone with hearing loss.  I’ve used “partially hearing” throughout as this is how Beryl identifies herself.

People think that, if you raise your voice or shout, people like me will be able to hear you.  Actually, it’s more complicated than that.  Here are some examples, not in any particular order.  I’ve given the example first, then some ideas in bold print afterwards.

People can suddenly appear from nowhere because you didn’t hear them come into the room.  This can give us quite a fright!

Make sure the partially hearing person can see you by approaching them from the front.

The sounds we do hear can be very distorted.  Also, we can’t, like most people, work out the direction sounds come from, so we don’t know what the sound is or how to locate it.

Gave the partially hearing person time to locate the sound and work out what it is.

One lady was infuriated when her husband had a half hour conversation with their adult daughter.  When she asked him what they had talked about, he just said “All is well”.

Be patient and tell the partially hearing person everything you can remember, especially the interesting bits!

Lip reading isn’t easy.  Much of it is guesswork.  For instance, some words look pretty much the same on the lips: Saturday and Sunday, 13th and 30th, 9.30 and 10.30, paper and mama, did and didn’t…  And some letters look the same on the lips: M, P and B; T, D and N.  N and L look almost the same, too, e.g. sink and silk.

Write down any words that the partially hearing person has missed.  This also gives the context of the conversation which is really helpful.

We can’t do two things at once!  We have to fully concentrate on what is being said, so we can’t safely walk and talk at the same time, or do knitting as well as follow a conversation.

Stop walking or working before talking!

Hearing aids amplify all sounds indiscriminately.  Clashing saucepans, loud music and other noises drown out the conversation we want to hear.

Meet in a quiet environment, with good lighting, if possible.

We know that being with a hard of hearing person can be a strain on people with normal hearing.  We just ask that you do your best.  And thank you for all you do to include us in!  We appreciate it.