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Center for Hearing Loss Help

Help for your hearing loss, tinnitus and other ear conditions

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Making Hearing People Feel Comfortable with Your Hearing Loss

by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.

People are often uncomfortable around those that are different from them. Thus, it should be no surprise that hearing people are often uncomfortable when trying to talk with hard of hearing people.

Hearing people are not mindreaders. They don’t know what they should do to “fix” the communication problem. Should they just pretend that there is no problem? Should they yell at the person and hope they will hear, or should they take the easy way out and ignore the hard of hearing person?

When communication difficulties arise, we hard of hearing people need to take the initiative and set hearing people at ease. The quickest way we can do this is simply to explain what we need them to do so we can effectively communicate with them. This is a two-step process.

First, we need to let them know what the problem is. I often just say, “I am hard of hearing and am not hearing you.” Now the hearing person is aware of the problem, but this just makes him even more uncomfortable. That is why it is vitally important at this point to take the second step, and immediately propose effective solutions that are easy for the hearing person to implement.

For example, I might say, “There is too much background noise here for me to hear you. Let’s move over there where it is quieter.” In another situation, I might say, “I’m hard of hearing and speechread you. Please look at me when you talk so I can read your lips.” With another person, I may say, “I need you to speak slower and more clearly so my ears can understand you.” Or I may say, “I can’t hear you from over there, I need to get closer to you because I am hard of hearing. Hang on a second while I get closer.” If the light is wrong for speechreading, I may say, “Would you trade places with me, so the light from the window falls on your face and not in my eyes, which interferes with my speechreading you?”.

Often implementing one or two of these simple little things is all that it takes to establish effective communication. Go for it!

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Hearing Loss Research & Resources

Free Visor Cards

Download your free Visor Cards for hard of hearing or deaf people here.

Loop Systems

Loop your home or meeting room. Discover how you can hear wonderfully clear sound again when listening to the TV/radio, etc, or when listening to a speaker at a meeting.

Loop systems are one of the best-kept secrets in town. To learn more about Loop Systems and what they can do for you, click here.

Take Control of Your Tinnitus—Here’s How

If your ears ring, buzz, chirp, hiss, click or roar, you know just how annoying tinnitus can be. You do not have to put up with this racket for the rest of your life. This book teaches you many things you can do to help bring your tinnitus under your control so it no longer bothers you.

Learn More | Add to Cart—Printed | Add to Cart—eBook

Sounds Now Too Loud for You?

Hypersensitive to Sound front coverIf some (or all) normal sounds seem so loud they “blow the top of your head off”, or make you wince or jump, or cause you headaches or ear pain, or affect your balance, or result in fear or annoyance of sounds so you feel you have to avoid these sounds, this book is for you!

Learn More | Add to Cart—Printed | Add to Cart—eBook

Hearing Phantom Sounds?

When hard of hearing people begin hearing phantom voices or music, they immediately worry they are going crazy. It never crosses their minds that they are sane and are just experiencing Musical Ear syndrome.

To learn more about the strange phantom sounds of Musical Ear syndrome and what you can do about them, click here to read a comprehensive article about Musical Ear Syndrome.

Or get the book—Learn More | Add to Cart—Printed | Add to Cart—eBook

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Center for Hearing Loss Help

Neil G. Bauman, Ph.D.

1013 Ridgeway Drive, Lynden,
WA 98264-1057 USA

Email: neil@hearinglosshelp.com

Phone: 360-778-1266 (M-F 9:00 AM-5:00 PM PST)

© 2025 Center for Hearing Loss Help – Help for your hearing loss, tinnitus and other ear conditions

"The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life [which also includes perfect hearing] through Jesus Christ our Lord." [Romans 6:23]

"But know this, in the last days perilous times will come" [2 Timothy 3:1]. "For there will be famines, pestilences, and [severe] earthquakes in various places" [Matthew 24:7], "distress of nations, the sea and the waves roaring"—tsunamis, hurricanes—Luke 21:25, but this is good news if you have put your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, for "when these things begin to happen, lift up your heads [and rejoice] because your redemption draws near" [Luke 21:28].