Coping Strategies
Some specific coping strategies are:
Speechreading
Lipreading means watching the movement of the lips, jaw and tongue to discern what sounds and words are being shaped and spoken. Since only about 40% of the spoken language appears on the lips this does not leave you with much to go on. Speechreading is a more correct term to use.
Speechreading involves understanding a person through a combined look and listen technique. The speechreader sees visible movement and sometimes hears at least part of the message. This visible movement is not only lip, tongue and jaw movement. It is facial expression, eye expression, body language, the context in which the person is speaking, and whatever sounds one hears. All possible cues are utilized to assist in speechreading, including sight, amplified sound, and educated guessing. The speechreader is alert and picks up on everything. You can train yourself to do this, once you understand more about the dynamics of what is going on relative to hearing and speech.
Who needs speechreading?
Everyone does at sometime. Hearing aid users do because hearing aids do not reproduce accurately
the high frequency sounds (s, sh, f, th, p, k, t) and some consonants (d, z, q, b, etc.). All hearing-handicapped persons need to speechread. Any hard of hearing person with hearing aids who still has difficulty in following the spoken word can benefit from speechreading instruction. Training in speechreading assists a person in understanding what is being said.
Speechreading classes not only teach how to read lips and movements, they also teach how to deal with different situations and persons so they are better able to hear and understand.
The more knowledgeable a person is about everything pertaining to their hearing loss and how to deal with it, the better they will be when it comes to speechreading and listening, and the better equipped they are to help others to adjust in the same way. So speechreading/coping classes teach people about the anatomy and physiology of hearing, about the different types of hearing loss and the meaning of their audiogram and what sounds have been lost.
In speechreading classes, people learn about language and what shapes appear on the lips and practice reading them, and learning what to watch for. Hard of hearing persons also tell one another how they are doing, and learn how to change their own behaviours and that of others to make speechreading more effective. Speechreading, then is the ability to understand spoken language by watching a speaker, without fully hearing, or if necessary, without hearing at all.
Optimum Conditions for Speechreading
Below are tips on how to speechread to maximum effectiveness. This information is also available as a handout from the CHHA-NL office.
- Have a light at your back.
- Stand close enough to see the speakers lips and far enough away to see the speaker's full face and expressions.
- Be willing to ask people to repeat what they say.
- Be sure that the other person is not embarrassed by your inability to hear.
- Don't attempt to bluff. It's better to admit your hearing loss and work from there.
- Be sociable. Cultivate your friends.
- Have a wide variety of interests and keep abreast of what is going on in the world so that you can contribute to conversations.
- Explain, if necessary, that the aid does not give you normal hearing and that you would appreciate having the speaker face you, talk clearly, and not shout.
- Get enough rest. At all times there is a certain amount of nervous strain on the speechreader, and since you cannot concentrate as well when tired and nervous, an extra amount of rest is necessary in order to be alert when attempting to speechread.
- Use your imagination. If you "get" only one of several words, you may often guess what the other words are, or at least get the meaning, if you stop and think about it. Lip formation, facial expressions, imagination and intuition all figure in speech interpretation.
- Do not be discouraged! Learning speechreading takes time and practice. Even some of the experts have "blank" spells when they cannot read speech any better than a novice does. You are not the only one who has an occasional mental block.
The Speechreader's Nine Commandments
- Practice Your Speechreading At All Times. Once you have learned the basics of speechreading in a class you can use many everyday situations to practice speechreading.
- Give Undivided Relaxed Attention to the Speaker. The speaker may be trying hard to slow down his/her usual rapid speaking pace, for your benefit. Therefore, you should courteously concentrate on her/his speech to the best of your ability.
- Use Your Imagination. If you understand only one or two words, you can often guess what the other words are, or at least get the meaning. Facial expression, lip formation, imagination and intuition all help you to interpret speech.
- Develop Mental Alertness. The more you practice using your abilities in imagination and intuition the better your speechreading.
- Practice Before Your Mirror. Definite benefit is gained from watching your own lips, but it must be done correctly. Read naturally, at a normal rate of speech, sentences found in any page of reading material.
- Remember, Lipreading is More Correctly Termed Speechreading. Do not concentrate only on lip formations, a person's entire face is expressive of what she/he is saying.
- Read Current Literature. Keep your vocabulary up-to-date by reading as many newspapers, magazines and books as possible. Know what people are talking about. You will then be familiar with current expressions and topics and find it easier to take part in discussions.
- Get Enough Rest. The speechreader always experiences a certain amount of nervous strain, and cannot concentrate as well when tired and nervous.
- Keep Your Sense of Humor Active. If you are the first to laugh at your own misinterpretations, it makes it easier for yourself, and others. The better natured you are, the more people will want to talk to you.
Adjusting the Environment
In order to hear and communicate hard of hearing people need:
- A quiet environment, with little or no background noise.
- A well lighted area, with the light on the other person's face, to facilitate speechreading.
- Preferred seating in any group situation, to enable seeing the faces of others, and any visual presentations of the dialogue, or other materials [overhead projector, videos, print interpreting].
- Hearing aids and assistive listening systems in good working order and accessible to their particular need.
Some of the strategies that you can use, and teach to others, to adjust the environment are:
- Arrive early at meetings, to get preferred seating. If you are expecting guests in you own home and want to reserve a certain seat, try putting something such as a magazine, or other object on the chair, so no one else sits in it before you have time to sit down.
- Suggest a meeting site which you know to be quiet, or ask to move to such a site. Ask for the background noise to be reduced, for example, music turned off, doors closed.
- Sit with your back to the light - move chairs as needed, or ask for this and be sure you explain why. Ask for additional lighting for the meeting, as needed.
- Well before the meeting, check with the person responsible for assistive listening devices to confirm that the equipment is in working order, has fresh batteries, working microphones, etc.
- If the equipment is not working for you during the meeting, inform others and stop the meeting until your needs are met.
Assertiveness Skills
Accomplishing many of the techniques suggested in adjusting the environment calls for a certain amount of assertiveness on the part of the hard of hearing person. Unfortunately, they are not always eager to distinguish themselves in this way for various reasons, particularly not wanting to inconvenience others and call attention to their hearing loss.
The speechreading courses offered at CHHA-NL recognize this need and foster assertiveness skill development in conjunction with its speechreading classes.