Let’s face it. Communicating well in relationships is often a difficult task, and if you or your spouse suffers from hearing loss, communication can be even more challenging for the two of you than it is for other couples.
That’s why we’ve provided 5 tips below on how to communicate better with your spouse if you have hearing loss.
1. Be Open About Your Hearing Problems
People suffering from hearing loss often try to hide their hearing problems from their friends and family, including their spouse. Unfortunately, this can mean that the person suffering from hearing loss ends up pushing his or her spouse away due to difficulties with sustaining conversations.
To better facilitate communication, be open with your spouse about any hearing issues you are experiencing.
2. Be Willing to Seek Help
Unfortunately, people who suffer from hearing loss are often reluctant to get help, which can be frustrating for loved ones.
We highly recommend seeking help as soon as you notice any difficulty hearing. The best first step in seeking help is seeing a doctor or hearing specialist for a hearing test.
You can purchase hearing aids without a hearing test. However, test results are very helpful in picking out a hearing aid that will work well for your specific hearing loss.
If seeing a doctor is not an option, you can use an Online Hearing Check to gauge the severity of your hearing loss for the purposes of purchasing hearing aids. We do caution, however, that an online hearing test is not an official diagnosis and should not be treated as such.
3. Ask Your Spouse for Assistance
Your spouse can help aid communication between you—whether or not you have hearing aids—in the following ways:
- Looking at you when speaking.
- Speaking clearly and concisely.
- Holding conversations in areas with good lighting so you can better read their facial expressions and gestures.
- Repeating words and sentences that you didn’t catch.
Asking for your significant other’s help upfront can help ease tensions that may be caused by miscommunication due to your hearing loss.
In addition to helping out with the tips above, your spouse can also assist you if you decide to see a doctor or purchase a hearing aid. Taking your spouse along to an appointment or asking for his or her help in ordering a hearing device can make the process easier for both of you.
If your spouse understands your hearing loss and how your hearing aids work, he or she can help you when it comes to learning your hearing aid settings, cleaning the device, and changing out tubes and domes or batteries.
4. Talk to Your Loved One About How Your Hearing Loss Affects Him or Her
The most important aspect of communication is honesty. Ask your spouse to be honest with you about how your hearing loss affects his or her everyday life. Ask your spouse how you can work toward better communication despite your hearing loss. And when you get a response, take the answer seriously and act on it.
5. Consider Alternative Methods of Communication
With modern technology, communication is available to us in a variety of formats. Consider adding some new methods of communication into your life with your spouse.
If you have a hard time communicating over the phone, send your spouse a sweet text message, write a long letter and leave it on the kitchen table, or send your spouse an email while they're at work that can be read over lunch.
Communication doesn’t always require face-to-face conversations.
If your spouse is the one with hearing loss and you are having difficulty communicating, try reading our article: How to Talk to Your Loved One About Hearing Loss.
If you are in need of hearing aids for you or your spouse, please don’t hesitate to reach out to our team at Advanced Affordable Hearing for help. We are happy to offer suggestions and guidance over the phone.
Give us a call at 1 (800) 804-0434 and we will walk you through your options.