Communicating with someone who has hearing loss · 2020-03-01 · THE IMPACT OF HEARING LOSS •...

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

WEBSITE

www.actiononhearingloss.org.uk