Hearing loss impacts more than 10% of people in the United States.[1] Living with hearing loss can feel like you’re constantly trying to piece together what people are saying, whether you’re having a one-on-one conversation in a coffee shop or chatting with six friends over dinner at Thai Pepper.
One way to make that speech comprehension a little easier is to practice effective listening techniques. Let’s look at five of those techniques below.
1. Rephrase
Not only will asking someone to rephrase themselves improve your understanding, but rephrasing someone’s words back to them can be just as helpful. Rephrasing gives you a chance to summarize and verify what you hear while also demonstrating that you’re paying attention.
2. Pause Your Thinking
It’s easy to get trapped in your own thinking when you’re having a conversation. Maybe you’re thinking about what you’ll say next, or your brain is headed off in a runaway tangent. Do your best to refocus on the speaker.
3. Face the Speaker
Hearing loss means that you need to use visual cues, like lip movements and gesturing, to inform speech comprehension. Facing the speaker gives you better access to these visual cues. Choosing well-lit settings without visual obstructions, such as tall flowers, will better aid understanding. You should also avoid looking around the room or down at your phone during the conversation.
4. Ask Questions
Asking questions keeps your brain engaged in the conversation, helps you make sense of what you hear and shows your interest.
5. Don’t Nod Along
You can absolutely nod during a conversation. “Don’t nod along” only means that you shouldn’t nod along when you don’t understand something. Instead, ask the speaker to repeat themselves to ensure you have all the information you need.
Combining the above five listening techniques with the amplified speech of your hearing aids will lead to the best possible speech comprehension. If you don’t have hearing aids yet, we can help. Contact The ENT Center of Central Georgia today to schedule your hearing aid consultation with one of our specialists.
[1] Cleveland Clinic medical professional. (2025, January 31). Hearing loss. Cleveland Clinic. https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/17673-hearing-loss
