Gatherings. More, and more family gatherings.
During the holidays, it most likely seems like you’re meeting (or re-meeting) a new long-lost relative almost every weekend. That’s the charm (and, some might say, the curse) of the holiday season. Usually, it’s easy to look forward to this yearly catching up. You get to reunite with everybody and see what they’re up to!
But when you have hearing loss, those family get-togethers may feel a little less welcoming. Why is that? How will your hearing loss impact you when you’re at family gatherings?
Your ability to communicate with others can be greatly impacted by hearing loss, and also the ability of others to communicate with you. The end result can be a disheartening feeling of alienation, and it’s a particularly disturbing sensation when it occurs around the holidays. Hearing specialists and professionals have formulated some go-to tips that can help make your holidays more enjoyable, and more fulfilling, when you have hearing loss.
Tips to help you enjoy the holiday season
Around the holidays, there’s so much to see, like decorations, gifts, food and so much more. But there are not only things to see, but also things to hear: how your nephew is doing in school, how your cousin’s pick-up basketball team is doing, and on, and on.
These tips are meant to help be certain that you keep having all of those moments of reconnection over the course of holiday get-togethers.
Steer clear of phone calls – instead, use video calls.
Zoom calls can be an excellent way to keep in touch with friends and family. That’s especially true if you have hearing loss. If you have hearing loss and you want to touch base with loved ones over the holidays, try utilizing video calls instead of standard phone calls.
Phones present an interesting conundrum when it comes to hearing loss and communication challenges. It can be very difficult to hear the garbled sounding voice at the other end, and that makes what should be an enjoyable phone call vexing indeed. You won’t have better audio quality from a video call, but you will at least have visual clues to help figure out what’s being said. From body language to facial expressions, video calls provide additional context, and that will help the conversation flow better.
Tell people the truth
Hearing loss is extremely common. If you need help, it’s essential to communicate that! It doesn’t hurt to ask for:
- Conversations to happen in quieter areas of the get-together (more on this in a bit).
- People to slow down a little bit when talking with you.
- People to paraphrase and repeat what they said.
People won’t be as likely to become aggravated when you ask them to repeat themselves if they understand that you have hearing loss. Communication will flow better as a result.
Pick your locations of conversation wisely
You will always want to avoid certain subjects of conversation during the holidays. So, you’re strategic, you don’t just bring up touchy subjects about people, you wait for those people to bring it up. When you have hearing loss, this goes double, only instead of scooting around certain topics of conversation, you should cautiously steer clear of specific spaces in a home which make hearing conversations more challenging.
deal with it like this:
- By the same token, keep your conversations in places that are well-lit. If there isn’t adequate light, you won’t be capable of picking up on context clues or read lips.
- When you choose a place to sit, try to put a wall against your back. That way, at least there won’t be people talking behind you.
- There will be quieter spots in the home where you have conversations. Possibly that means moving away from the noisy furnace or excusing yourself from locations of overlapping conversations.
- You’re seeking spaces with less commotion. This will put you in a better position to read lips more successfully.
So what if you’re in the noisy kitchen, filling up your mug of hot chocolate, and your niece begins talking to you? There are a few things you can do in situations like these:
- If there’s music playing in the area, politely ask the host to turn the music down so you can hear your niece a little better.
- Quietly direct your niece to a place that has less going on. And remember to let her know this is what you’re doing.
- Ask your niece to continue the conversation someplace where it’s a little quieter.
Speak to the flight crew
So how about less apparent impacts of hearing loss on holiday plans? Like the ones that catch you by surprise.
When families are spread out, many people need to fly somewhere. It’s important that you can understand all of the instructions coming from the flight crew when you fly. Which is why it’s really essential to tell the flight crew that you have trouble hearing or experience hearing loss. This way, if necessary, the flight crew can take extra care to give you additional visual instructions. It’s important that you don’t miss anything when flying!
Take breaks
It can be a lot of work trying to communicate when you have hearing loss. You might find yourself growing more fatigued or exhausted than you once did. This means that it’s essential to take frequent breaks. By doing this, your ears and your brain can get a break.
Invest in some hearing aids
How does hearing loss affect relationships? Well, as should be clear by now, in a lot of ways!
Every conversation with your family through the holidays will be enhanced by hearing aids and that’s one of the biggest benefits. And no more asking people what they said.
Hearing aids will let you reconnect with your family, in other words.
It may take some time to adjust to your new hearing aids. So you shouldn’t wait until just before the holidays to pick them up. Naturally, everyone’s experience will differ. But we can help you with the timing.
You can get help getting through the holidays
It can seem as if you’re by yourself sometimes, and that no one can relate to what you’re going through when you have hearing loss. It’s like hearing loss is affecting your personality in this way. But there’s help. You can get through many of the challenges with our help.
Holidays can be tough enough even under normal circumstances and you don’t want hearing loss to make it even more difficult. During this holiday season, you can look forward to seeing, and hearing your friends and family. All you need is the correct strategy.
