Make Your Hearing Aids Work Harder

Whether you have a hearing aid or not, a few conversation strategies can help facilitate clearer communication, especially when you practice them with the people you speak with most frequently. Here’s what to consider:

Speak face-to-face. Be sure to get your conversation partner’s attention before you start speaking, and make sure you can both see each other’s face when you’re talking. Visual cues can greatly enhance understanding between two people.

Use smart strategies to clarify. Try not to ask a simple, “What?” when you can’t hear what someone has just said. They’re likely to simply repeat, at a higher volume, which can actually distort the message. Instead, try asking for clarification or if the person can rephrase. If you’re on the other end of that question, instead of repeating yourself louder, try rephrasing and enunciating (while maintaining your normal speaking pace). “Shouting doesn’t always help,” says Carolyn Stern, director of outreach and strategic initiatives at the Center for Hearing and Communication, a nonprofit audiology center in New York City. It can exaggerate your facial expressions and make it harder for your speaking partner to pick up on nonverbal cues, and shouting can be misinterpreted as being angry, “when you’re just trying to be loud.”

Talk in optimal spaces. Try to have conversations in well-lit, quieter areas of your home. Instead of speaking in the kitchen, where sound can reverberate off of counters and floor, move your conversation to a room with carpets, rugs, soft furniture, or drapes, which don’t bounce as much sound.

Work as a team. If you have trouble hearing in group settings like a restaurant, enlist the help of your partner or a close friend who can help cue you if the topic of conversation changes. If you’ve lost the thread of the discussion, having someone help you keep up with the topic will make it easier to understand the conversation. If you’re in the position to help someone with hearing difficulty in these situations, these cues can be subtle. If the conversation shifts from vacation to the drinks menu, for example, you can turn to your friend and say, “What drink are you thinking about ordering?”