Ten Commandments
the Hearing Impaired Wish You Knew
I. Thou shalt face the listener when speaking.
II. Thou shalt not talk from another room.
III. Thou shalt speak slower, not louder.
IV. Thou shalt rephrase rather than repeat.
V. Thou shalt call the listener's name first.
VI. Thou shalt reduce background noise.
VII. Thou shalt not trail off at the end of thy sentences.
VIII. Thou shalt not cover thy mouth or chew while speaking.
IX. Thou shalt remember it's harder to hear when you're tired.
X. Thou shalt be patient.
How to Read a Hearing Test
People begin to benefit from hearing aids when their thresholds exceed 30dB, especially at 2kHz. I found this video explanation of how to interpret a hearing test by Carrie Brollier at Saint Jospeh's University in Philadelphia.
The Unfair Hearing Test
With a typical high frequency hearing loss, they sound unclear. This is for family members who don't have a hearing loss. This is a test of 10 words delivered with the high frequencies turned down and then the same list with the high frequencies put back. The family member can see what it's like to have a high frequency hearing loss. You can hear the words, but you can't understand them!
The McGurk Effect
You use more than your ears to understand speech. The Washington Post did a great video on something called the McGurk Effect. It's how what you see affects what you hear.
The History of Deaf Education
To understand deaf culture, start by learning about the history of deaf education. The Holcomb family explains how much has changed. Watch the documentary here.
Getting Used to a Hearing Aid
It takes time to get used to hearing things you haven't heard in a long time. At first they're distracting, if not annoying. With time, though, your brain rewires and learns to dismiss them the way people with normal hearing do. It's like when you get new glasses and the frames are distracting. Hearing adaptation just takes a little longer. Scroll over the bottom of the article to turn to the next page.