Category: Hard of Hearing Defined

We are defining the needs of the Hard of Hearing which are often lumped under the Deaf. We have different communication needs.

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Hard of Hearing Hard of Hearing Defined Hearing Loss Mental Health & Hearing Loss Sensory Loss

Being Comfortable with Hearing Loss

What’s your comfort level with hearing loss? 

Is it possible to be comfortable with hearing loss?

Chelle talks about shame and how she got over it. Julia covers the hearing side because hearing folks aren’t always comfortable with hearing loss.

Being comfortable with hearing loss means different things to different people. You can explore this topic with us all month with this blog, a podcast and through our YouTube channel.

Register for our workshop January 3rd from 6:00 – 7:00 PM and share your ideas with us. Can’t attend that night? We will have a presentation with workshop info available on our YouTube channel shortly after the event for a limited time. (PS: We think the live events are better because of the participation.) 

What Being Uncomfortable with Hearing Loss is Like

Chelle: Being comfortable with my hearing loss is something I struggled with for years. There were several years I hid it. Why? Because I was 23 years old, too young to wear hearing aids. My then husband teased me telling me I was a defective model. He might have to trade me in. He used to turn the captions off on the TV because they were in his way. When repeating, he could be nasty about it and he would use my hearing loss to his advantage. With all that, it’s no wonder I was uncomfortable with hearing loss. My thinking was that everyone thought the same as him; my hearing loss was a pain in the ass. (Side note: we got a divorce.)

It took time to unlearn being protective and fearful about hearing loss. That came step by step with my next husband who was also my best friend. He didn’t mind my hearing loss or my captions. Repeating things was no big deal for him, he did so easily. He was good about cluing me in on situations. At first I was horrified about how open he was with others about my hearing loss. However, this is how I learned most people were willing to work with me. Thanks to this husband, I stopped hiding my hearing loss.

You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know

Even though I was much better about telling people I had hearing loss, I wasn’t able to share best communication practices. I didn’t know what I needed. Conversation was hit and miss and could be very frustrating, even with my hearing aids.

17 years into hearing loss & hearing aids, still fairly clueless about accommodations.

Then came the next big drop in hearing. Here’s where I hated my hearing loss. This was no-man’s-land. Nowhere close to hearing and not Deaf either. I was lost and angry. If I couldn’t be hearing again, let’s just stab my ears with a pencil and be done with it.

Yes, I really thought that and expressed it out loud once. My husband never forgot that statement. No one seemed to understand hearing loss. Here’s new hearing aids, you’re all better now. I was not all better. In fact, there were times when I was entirely stuck. I made it my mission to learn as much as I could about hearing loss, hearing aids and more. Anything. Everything that might help and it did help.

Having a Tribe Behind Me

The SayWhatClub helped me a lot over the years. This is their 2022 convention picture.

After a few years, I learned how to live with my current level of hearing loss. Thanks to some of the best people I know, who also have hearing loss, I learned more about my communication needs and the available accommodations. They helped me find my place again in the world. With their help, I learned to be comfortable with my hearing loss. Even though my hearing still sucks, I actually “hear” better than ever because I learned how to be proactive. I learned to be successful with and without my hearing aids.

Hearing partners need to be comfortable with hearing loss. 

Julia: When hearing partners are not comfortable with hearing loss, we set unachievable hearing communication goals. An example:  “You need to go get hearing aids so you can hear me better.” It’s not you vs me, it is a “we” thing.

Twenty years of attending hearing loss support groups as a hearing partner has taught me to have a conversation about hearing loss. We have to have several conversations to become comfortable with hearing loss. We have to be comfortable with communication adjustments that will be worked on together.

Julia and her husband with their son.

What works for us

My husband has had a mild hearing loss for 8 or so years. It has not progressed. He does not wear hearing aids and that’s his choice. I support his decision. The sounds my husband is missing do not affect his quality of life. When/if he gets to the point he wants hearing aids, we will have a conversation to work on communication and being comfortable with the next change. 

Right now when he needs extra volume for understanding, he uses his noise canceling bluetooth headphones. We tried a few different brands and wound up with Blue Tiger as his favorite. He has one pair he uses with his phone and another pair for television. 

Julia with her family at an outdoor event.

Our outdoor adventures are not hearing aid friendly. He enjoys planes, trains and automobiles and dreams of becoming a mountain man. Black powder rifle and all! For him outdoor hearing protection is what is needed to protect his hearing from further loss.

Communication rules are by far the best way, in my opinion, to get comfortable with hearing loss. We started using them long before hearing loss was part of the marriage equation.

If I:

  • Get his attention: We’ve been married almost 30 years. That means we do a lot of “uh-huh” marital bluffing that has nothing to do with hearing loss.
  • Face him the whole time: This way I can tell if he is understanding what I’m saying. He can watch my facial expressions and listen to my tone to better understand the conversation. Yes, it turns out I have a “no bluffing look.” We are talking 30 years folks, 30 whole years.
  • Be within six feet: Outdoor activities can be tricky with this rule. Try some different scenarios if you like talking and walking. We do a lot of “uh-huh” here too. We may have one or two dogs with us too. One of us is in front of the other person/dog so we fit on the sidewalk. Odds are the conversation is with the dog not each other. (Did I say we’ve been married almost 30 years?)

The key to being comfortable is in the “we” for us. Is it perfect? No. But because the subject of hearing loss is comfortable for us, it’s not the elephant in the room and together we can have better communication outcomes for the next 30 years. Well at least when it comes to hearing loss.

In the end…

The more we know, the more we can successfully manage communication situations.. Have those talks with your hearing partner! There will always be new situations that throw us off. Talking through those rough spots together will smooth out the process in the future. Explore accommodation options together. The more both partners know about accommodations, the easier it will be to manage situations. 

Finding others with hearing loss is a great way to trade ideas, tips, tricks, technology and so on. It’s also wonderful to have friends with hearing loss to compare notes. There are 48 million people with hearing loss out there so we are not alone. Open up about your hearing loss with someone, share your stories. Let’s make hearing loss more known and acceptable.

If something resonated with you in this post, share it with someone meaningful.

Want to explore more? Check out Being Proactive with Hearing Loss. It might also be a good time to read Hearing Loss and Hearing Partners.

We are crowdfunding through Buy Me a Coffee. Help us reach phase two of our business plan as we continue to expand services.  

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Accessibility Advocacy Communication Practices Connections Hard of Hearing Hard of Hearing Defined Hearing Loss Hearing Technology

The Better Connect Academy with Jean Nalbantian

Sometimes things just fall into place. One day we are looking at The Better Connect Academy (TBCA) website and the next day Jean (John) is contacting us to invite us to guest on his podcast. It is great when the stars align and the universe conspires to connect like minds on the subject of hearing loss. Hearing Loss LIVE! talked with Jean in late March, sharing our passions and what we do. We got to know TBCA further when Jean was our podcast guest—video will be available May 16th.

Michele, Chelle, and Julia are Jean’s guests on the TBCA podcast.

May is Better Hearing and Speech month, and we are celebrating American Speech-Language-Hearing Association’s (ASHA) theme of Connecting – People. Our crossing paths with Jean and TBCA is a great example of connecting and the timing couldn’t have been better!

Jean (John) Nalbantian, CEO and Founder of The Better Connect Academy

Jean: I am Jean (John) Nalbantian, the CEO and Founder of The Better Connect Academy (TBCA). We are an online course (about an hour long) that teaches enrollees how to provide effective communication for Hard of Hearing (HoH) individuals. 

Providing effective communication is federal law per the American Disabilities Act (ADA); we can help.

I have over 25 years of experience working with people who are HoH and deaf. I hold a BS in Human Services Management and two Gerontology program certificates from USC. My passion has always been to help, ever since I was a kid.

I identified a need within the HoH population and after hearing the same complaints over and over again, I decided to develop a course that educates the general public how to provide effective communication. The course has been reviewed by members of the HoH and deaf communities to ensure that nothing has been left out. 

The course is accredited by two entities, the National Certification Council for Activity Professionals as a Continuing Education course and by the American Academy of Physician Associates as a Continuing Medical Education course.

When enrollees are done watching the course and have taken the quiz, they receive a certificate of completion, which is an asset to their current employment but more importantly, helps them communicate with HoH individuals.

The goal of the course is to educate as many people as possible, especially people who work at medical offices, hospitals, restaurants, government offices and others. Every single business and organization should enroll their staff. 

Providing effective communication is federal law per the American Disabilities Act. The ADA states: “The ADA requires that title II entities (State and local governments) and title III entities (businesses and nonprofit organizations that serve the public) communicate effectively with people who have communication disabilities. The goal is to ensure that communication with people with these disabilities is equally effective as communication with people without disabilities.” 

So why should businesses and organizations risk receiving official complaints about not providing effective communication? We can help.

We want every HoH individual to advocate for themselves and if they encounter a business that has a difficult time communicating with them, then they should give our information to the supervisor or manager of the business. It’s a serious matter but it can be alleviated.

Eventually, The Better Connect Academy will push for this program to be mandated to all businesses, but it will require all HoH people to support the idea. As we grow, we will also plan on hiring HoH individuals. 

We appreciate Hearing Loss LIVE! for giving us the opportunity to speak about TBCA.

Chelle: What a pleasure to meet Jean and to get to know his business, TBCA. He has a big heart and cares about effective communication for our community. We watched the online course video and hope businesses will take HoH communication needs seriously by taking the course. Many places I go lack effective communication and I am constantly educating. 

If you are HoH, share TBCA’s information when businesses get it wrong. I find most businesses mean well but they just don’t know. People know the ADA but they rarely get specific education. We can help, you can help, and Jean can help. We all need to work together to make a more accessible community. When you advocate for yourself, you’re also laying a path for others who come behind you. Start small with self advocacy by sharing TBCA website when you find businesses on the wrong path. 

Julia: Working with other like minds means more folks understanding communication needs for people with hearing loss. If you haven’t heard me say it in the past, then let me say it again, “One size does not fit most with hearing loss.”

The Better Connect Academy (TBCA) gets it. TBCA’s online certification to help businesses to be better trained on communication skills with their employees who have a hearing loss matches up nicely with live training offered from Hearing Loss LIVE!—Sensitivity Training for Business owners with respect to hearing loss. 

If you are a business owner and you need training and education on better communication with your Deaf and Hard of Hearing employees, The Better Connect Academy (TBCA) has a great course for you. Better yet, combining TBCA’s online certification with in-person training by Hearing Loss LIVE! will give you a more diverse and well-educated staff with respect to hearing loss and communication. Think of how you can promote and grow your workforce with employees who are vested in seeing your company grow because you took the time to get to know what people with hearing loss face and what they need. 

Something else we talk about, you don’t know what you don’t know. Hearing loss can happen at any time for any reason. If you are already practicing good communication guidelines with all your employees, that hearing loss fear and unknown is eased and help can be sought sooner. Erasing the stigma before an employee is facing hearing loss will ease their fears around hearing loss.

Michele: When advocating, I always try to make the point that responsibility for accessibility and inclusion should be shared, not solely shouldered by the person with hearing loss. Twenty percent of the population has some degree of disabling hearing loss and the world needs to know how to effectively communicate with us. And, that doesn’t mean Sign Language Interpretation for over 95% of us.

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities in several areas—employment, transportation, public accommodations, communications and access to state and local government’ programs and services. In addition, Federal Rehabilitation and State Human Rights Laws provide for full and equal access in these same areas.

However, not all businesses are proactive regarding compliance, and that shifts the burden of enforcement onto the person with a disability when there are issues. It is up to us to force businesses to comply by filing a complaint or lawsuit. We could use more help.

As customers, clients, and patients, with a communication barrier, we encounter the lack of effective communication daily. That is especially true in medical/hospital settings. The HoH need quality Speech-to-Text Interpretation/Translation, and that means captioning by a live stenographer on a screen provided by the medical facility or office. Many HoH people are unaware of the effective communication access accommodations available to them, or it doesn’t occur to them to request accommodation at the doctor or hospital. This needs to change.

We are thrilled that The Better Connect Academy (TBCA) is focused on helping those who serve the public own their part of the effective communication equation. We need more co-advocates like Jean who encourage entities to be proactive and provide them with the information and training needed for effective communication. TBCA’s online training course for employers and their employees is a valuable tool for spreading awareness of the HoH community and our communication needs and accommodations.

Watch our companion podcast here. Or listen to it on Spotify, iHeartRadio and BuzzSprout. Transcript is available on BuzzSprout.

If you liked this post, try Captioning Advocacy and Requesting CART.

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Hard of Hearing Defined

Defining the Hard of Hearing

Defining our needs as a community of Hard of Hearing (HoH) people who use spoken and written language to communicate is a challenge due to the diversity of hearing loss.

As an individual, defining your own specific needs, depending where you fall on the hearing loss spectrum, is one of the most important things you will do. The earlier it happens, the better. 

The Deaf Community is well-respected and admired for their accomplishments, and rightly so. They have fought long and hard for recognition of their language and culture. Deaf people influenced the passage of the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act). Their culture, community, and communication needs are visible and well-known. For that reason, anyone with hearing loss is commonly lumped together with the Deaf, labeled as hearing impaired or people with hearing loss (pwhl), and assumed to communicate fluently in sign language.

Continue reading “Defining the Hard of Hearing”