Gatherings. More, and more family gatherings.
During the holidays, it probably seems like you’re meeting (or re-meeting) a new long-lost relative almost every weekend. That’s the charm (and, some would say, the bane) of the holiday season. Normally, it’s easy to look forward to this annual catching up. You get to reunite with everybody and find out what they’ve been doing!
But when you have hearing loss, those family get-togethers may seem a little less welcoming. Why is that? How will your hearing loss affect 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 resulting feelings of alienation can be especially disheartening and distressing around the holidays. Your holiday season can be more fulfilling and pleasant when you employ a few go-to tips formulated by hearing specialists.
Tips to help you enjoy the holiday season
There’s a lot to see around the holidays, lights, food, gifts, and more. But there’s also so much to hear: how your nephew is doing in school, how your cousin’s pond hockey team is doing, and on, and on.
These tips are designed to help be certain that you keep having all of those moments of reconnection during the course of holiday get-togethers.
Avoid phone calls – use video instead
For family and friends, Zoom video calls can be a good way to stay in touch. That’s particularly true if you have hearing loss. If you have hearing loss and you want to connect with loved ones over the holidays, try using video calls instead of traditional phone calls.
While trying to communicate with hearing loss, phones represent a particular obstacle. The voice that comes through the phone speaker can sound muffled and difficult to understand, and that can certainly be frustrating. With a video call, the audio quality won’t actually get better, but you’ll have a lot more information to help you communicate. From body language to facial expressions, video calls offer additional context, and that will help the conversation have a better flow.
Be honest with people
It isn’t uncommon for people to suffer from hearing loss. If you need help, it’s important to communicate that! There’s no harm in asking for:
- People to paraphrase and repeat what they said.
- Conversations to take place in quieter areas of the gathering (more on this in a bit).
- People to slow down a bit when talking with you.
When people recognize that you’re dealing with hearing loss, they’re not as likely to become annoyed if you need something repeated more than once. Communication will have a better flow as a result.
Pick your areas of conversation wisely
You will always want to steer clear of certain subjects of conversation throughout the holidays. So you’re careful not to say anything that would offend people, but instead, wait for them to talk about any sensitive subject matter. In a similar way, you should try to cautiously pick spaces that are quieter for conversations.
Here’s how to handle it:
- When you choose a spot to sit, try to put a back to a wall. That way, at least you won’t have people talking behind you.
- Try to find an area of the gathering that’s a little bit quieter. That could mean removing yourself from overlapping conversations or getting a little further away from that raucous football game on the TV.
- By the same token, keep your discussions in areas that are well-lit. If there isn’t adequate light, you won’t be capable of picking up on context clues or read lips.
- You’re looking for areas with less commotion. This will put you in a stronger position to read lips more effectively.
Okay, okay, but what if your niece starts talking to you in the loud kitchen, where you’re topping off your mug with holiday cocoa? In cases like this, there are a few things you can do:
- Suggest that you and your niece go someplace quieter to chat.
- Politely start walking towards an area of the gathering place where you can hear and focus better. Be sure to mention that’s what you’re doing.
- You can politely ask the host, if there is music playing, to turn it down so you can hear what your niece is saying.
Communicate with the flight crew
So what about less obvious impacts of hearing loss on holiday plans? You know, the ones you may not see coming?
When families are spread out, many people need to fly somewhere. It’s essential that you can comprehend all of the directions coming from the flight crew when you fly. So you need to be certain to tell them about your hearing loss. This way, if necessary, the flight crew can take extra care to give you extra visual guidelines. It’s crucial that you don’t miss anything when flying!
Take breaks
When you are dealing with hearing loss, communicating can become a lot of effort. You might find yourself growing more fatigued or exhausted than you once did. So taking regular breaks is important. This will give your ears, and, perhaps more importantly, your brain, some time to catch a breath.
Get some hearing aids
How are relationships affected by hearing loss? Hearing loss has a significant impact on relationships.
Every interaction with your family during the holidays will be benefited by hearing aids and that’s one of the greatest benefits. And no more asking people what they said.
Hearing aids will let you reconnect with your family, in other words.
Keep in mind that it might take you some time to become accustomed to your hearing aids. So it’s recommended that you pick them up well in advance of your holiday plans. Everyone will have a different experience. So speak with us about the timing.
You can get help navigating the holidays
When you have hearing loss, sometimes, it can feel as if nobody understands what you’re going through, and that you have to get through it all alone. It’s like hearing loss is affecting your personality in this way. But you’re not alone. You can navigate many of the difficulties with our help.
Holidays can be tough enough even under typical circumstances and you don’t want hearing loss to make it even more difficult. With the right strategy, you can look forward to seeing, and hearing, your family around this time of year.
