3 Things you should never do when talking to a deaf person

With 1-in-6 people in the UK affected by hearing loss the chances are you’ve met someone recently who was hard of hearing without even realising.

For many deaf and hard of hearing people, the problem comes when someone does realise they have hearing problems, and their entire personality changes.

Here are 3 things you should consider when talking to a deaf person.

Stop shouting!

Ok, first of all, if someone is 100% deaf, shouting isn’t going to help – they can’t hear you.

Secondly, shouting is rude, even to those with hearing issues. Not only can it come across as aggressive, but for people with sensitive hearing aids, it can suddenly turn things up to 11, becoming very uncomfortable, even painful.

You might not even realise you’re shouting, but for many people, their voice tends to creep up once they discover they’re talking with someone who’s partially deaf.

Just take a step back every once in a while and ask yourself if you’re being louder than usual, because most of the time you don’t have to be.

Don’t exaggerate

And by this we mean your facial expressions, body language or hand gestures.

You might think that smiling extra wide and throwing your arms around the place will help a deaf person understand you, but it won’t, you just look insane.

And the same goes for slowing your words with exaggerated lip movements. Deaf people who lipread are used to lipreading normally, not some weird slow-motion version. Doing this will just make it harder for them to understand you.

Think about it

A little empathy goes a long way. When you’re talking to a deaf person or someone who’s hard of hearing, try and put yourself in their shoes.

Simple things like not covering your mouth when you’re speaking help a lot. Although that’s harder after the pandemic, and we’ve talked before about why transparent facemasks should be mandatory.

Try to understand deaf people don’t always know you’re talking to them, especially if they can’t see your face, so don’t talk to the back of someone’s head. A gentle tap on the shoulder to get someone to turn around works wonders, just as long as you don’t start jumping up and down, waving like you’re stranded on a desert island.

And finally, don’t ramble on. The more you waffle, the harder it is for someone to keep up. Use plain language and make sure you are both engaging in the conversation. If the person you’re talking to looks confused or even bored, you may be talking too much.

121 Captions understand the deaf community

Deaf-owned and led, we have an in-depth understanding of deaf issues and the needs of deaf people.

Our founder and director, Tina Lannin, discovered how hard it was to get good communication support while at university and during her career, and so founded the company with the aim of making life easier for deaf and hard of hearing people.

Tina started blogging in 2007, writing about her hearing journey; going from hearing aids which she had worn all for life, to a cochlear implant, and then a second cochlear implant.

We know what it’s like to be deaf and we use that experience in our work and our professionalism.

Contact us today if you would like to know more about how we can help you.