Are you having trouble communicating with friends or family? Are you finding it increasingly difficult to communicate in a noisy workplace?

If you are deaf or have a hearing loss Action on Hearing Loss offers help to communicate better with hearing people through some simple communicating tips. If you are hearing, the website can also provide some simple and effective tips on how to communicate effectively with those who are deaf or have a hearing loss.

Find out more about British Sign Language (BSL) interpreters and other forms of communication support as well as how you can help to improve communication in the workplace.

If you are an employer Action on Hearing Loss offers work based assessments and deaf awareness training to ensure your employer or business meets its obligations under the Equality Act, 2010.

Are you deaf aware?

Action on Hearing Loss says: “Being deaf aware is not difficult – but it is very important. Without knowing it, you might be excluding people who have a hearing loss or making their daily life more difficult.”

Action on Hearing Loss tells you what you can do to improve your communication skills and promote awareness about hearing loss.

Better communication

Depending on their level of hearing loss, people may need different types of communication support. Resources can help you communicate better, whether you are deaf or hard of hearing yourself, or you want to improve communication with relatives, friends, colleagues and customers who have hearing loss.

The top communication tips sent in to Action on Hearing Loss during Deaf Awareness Week 2010 were:

• Make sure you have the person’s attention before you start speaking.

• Places with good lighting (so that you can be lipread) and little or no background noise are best for conversations.

• Face the person so you can be lipread and speak clearly, using plain language, normal lip movements and facial expressions.

• Check whether the person understands what you are saying and, if not, try saying it in a different way.

• Keep your voice down as it’s uncomfortable for a hearing aid user if  you shout and it looks aggressive.

• Learn fingerspelling or some basic British Sign Language (BSL).

People who are losing their hearing gradually may have particular needs for support and understanding as their circumstances change – see the factsheet Living with someone with gradual hearing loss. for more information.

Promoting deaf awareness

Action on Hearing Loss asks: “Can you help promote deaf awareness at your workplace, college or amongst friends? One simple thing you can do right now is get your colleagues thinking about their own hearing and why it matters. More than 560,000 people have already taken our free hearing check. It only takes five minutes. Do it online now and encourage everyone you know to try it too.”

Deaf awareness at work

Can you communicate clearly with colleagues and customers who are deaf or hard of hearing? Would you like to make your organisation more deaf aware. We offer deaf awareness training that can be tailored to your needs. Many organisations, from supermarkets to fire brigades, have already benefited from our popular courses.

More information

For more information go to Action Hearing Loss.

Written by Rachel Harrison on behalf of Integrated Treatment Services.

Speech and Language Therapist,