Communication Tips: Hard ofHearing Person to a Hearing Person

• Pickthebestspottocommunicate byavoidingareasthatarepoorlylit.

• Planfordifficultlisteningsituations inadvancetoreducepossibleproblems.

• Tellothershowtobestcommunicate withyou.

• Payattentiontothespeaker.

• Lookforvisualcluestowhatisbeingsaid.

• Askforwrittencluesofkeywords,ifneeded.

• Providefeedbackthatyouunderstand orfailtounderstand.

• Donotbluff.

• Arrangeforfrequentbreaksifdiscussions ormeetingsarelong.

• Letthespeakerknowhowwellheorshe isdoing.

• Trynottointerrupttoooften.

• Setrealisticgoalsaboutwhatyoucan expecttounderstand.

N . C . D H H S / N . C . D S D H H J a n u a r y 2 0 1 4

N . C . D i v i s i o n o f S e r v i c e s f o r t h e D e a f a n d t h e H a r d o f H e a r i n g

State of North Carolina • Pat McCrory, Governor Department of Health and Human Services • Aldona Z. Wos, M.D., SecretaryDivision of Services for the Deaf and the Hard of Hearingwww.ncdhhs.gov/dsdhh • N.C. DHHS is an equal opportunity employer and provider. 4/15

www.ncdhhs.gov/dsdhh

Struggling to communicate can be frustrating for a person who is Hard of Hearing.Putting into practice these helpful hints can help prevent or reduce those feelings.

For more information, contact a DSDHH Regional Center(800) 851-6099 (v)or if Deaf(919) 890-0859 (vp)