How to Improve Communication With the Elderly Who Suffer From Hearing Loss?

 

The 2023 World Hearing Day is here and so it the time to gift our seniors and their families with valuable hearing-protection tips. There is no denying that the entire planet is getting louder with each passing day. Hence, with such an alarming trajectory underway, how does a senior, who is already prone to hearing loss due to old age, is supposed to save their hearing sense?

And, if at all the senior is actively coping with hearing loss, how can their family communicate with them? Well, let’s start with the latter question first.

Let us reiterate the question; How do you communicate with your senior parent or friend if they are suffering from hearing loss?

There are a handful of ways through which you could execute this challenge. It may be tricky and difficult at times, but, this is the least of what our elders deserve.  Here are the most feasible ways to do so:

• Keep frustrations aside: People tend to get frustrated from repeating the same message over and over again to a hearing-impaired senior. If you’re one of them, we suggest you take a few deep breaths and calm yourself down before envisioning the scenario from their shoes to get the realisation of how hard it might be for them.
• Be understanding: Communicating with hearing-impaired seniors may sometimes lead to misunderstandings. However, always ignore such moments and continue to stay calm and keep things light.
• Face-to-face: Make sure that you are standing right in front of the senior when you’re talking to them. While they may be able to grab a word or two through faint hearing, face-to-face communication can help them understand by reading your lips and your expressions and ultimately aids them to get a hold of what you’re trying to convey to them. 
• Actions over words: Some seniors may have eye problems, leading to partially blurred visions. Hence, reading your lips may not even be an option for them. Instead, prioritise using actions while communicating with such senior citizens.
• Speak clearly and loudly: Always make sure you’re talking loud enough to your senior parent or friend. Also, maintain an optimal flow and never speak too fast. Perfecting these two factors could be the best option to improve your communication with hearing-impaired seniors.
• Reduce background noise: Try reducing the surrounding noise before engaging in a conversation with your elders. Noise could be anything from a faint screeching fan sound to loud noise from a TV.

Hope this helps! Let’s now move on to the former question; how does a senior protect themselves from hearing impairment? There are multiple ways through which the threat of hearing loss could haunt the elderly. Here are some of the best tips to evade such threats:-

• Avoid noisy environments: As mentioned earlier, Earth has gotten too loud, with traffic chaos taking the decibels to an alarming level. Hence, try and remain indoors through most parts of the day and only step out if you feel your surroundings have quietened down.

This is likely possible either early in the morning or late in the night.

•  Wear ear plugs or ear muffs: If you’re obliged to enter a loud environment, do wear ear plugs to block out the noise from affecting your eardrums. This way, the chances of seniors losing their hearing senses early into their senior life will be less.
• Consider doctor visits regularly: Frequent doctor visits can help seniors keep a close watch on their ear health condition. Any mild deflection in the results and the senior could quickly opt for medications in the hopes of safeguarding themselves from becoming hearing impaired.

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