know about living with someone with hearing loss
Published by Jacqueline Drexler at September 9, 2019153 3 0
I took a big step in my life. I moved in with my partner. As someone with hearing loss, not only did my partner and I have to learn to adjust to each other’s daily living habits, we also have to modify our communication habits.
If you’re living with someone with hearing loss, or if you have hearing loss yourself and are moving in with someone with “normal hearing,” here are a few things you should know:
Living with someone with hearing loss
My partner has normal hearing and I have severe to profound hearing loss. I am a bimodal user, with a cochlear implant in one ear and a hearing aid in the other.
My partner is well aware of my hearing loss and is mindful of how he communicates with me. He knows to get my attention first before speaking to me, that I like to watch television with closed captioning on, and that he should wear a partner microphone in difficult listening environments. Despite all this, he has never lived with someone who has hearing loss. I have never lived with someone who has normal hearing, outside of living with my family. Here are three things to keep in mind when moving in with your hearing partner.
1) Create new communication habits
It takes time and practice to break old communication habits and create new ones. For example, my partner may communicate with me from another room or say something as he walks by. I do this too, despite knowing I can’t hear when others do this to me. In fact, most people can’t hear when you are talking from the other side of the house in a different room. Thus, we work together and remind each other to be in the same room when conversing. This avoids a communication breakdown.
Another communication adjustment is more awareness of where to place your hands when speaking. When eating and talking, my partner sometimes holds his food in front of his mouth before taking a bite. When I see this, I subtly remind him to move his hand away from his mouth. He knows I want to hear what he has to say and using a subtle hand gesture avoids interrupting the conversation, while still getting the point across.
Read more: How does hearing loss affect dating and relationships?
2) Let your partner know when your hearing technology is off
Listening and wearing hearing instruments all day can be tiring and sometimes irritating, especially after a long day at work. I cherish those small moments of silence to give my ears a break. In the morning, I put my hearing instruments on before leaving for work, and take them off after dinner. This can be frustrating for my partner when he has something to say to me and I am walking around deaf, unaware that he is speaking to me. I do try reading his lips when I am deaf, but with his thick German accent and differences in lip movement, I fail to understand him without auditory input. So I tell him to wait, and go put my hearing instruments back on.
In this case, I try to be more mindful by telling my partner right away that I do not have hearing instruments on. I also take shorter breaks throughout the day from wearing my hearing instruments, rather than taking fewer but longer breaks. If my partner needs to tell me something, he is comfortable with getting my hearing instruments for me to put on.
3) Enjoy all the positive moments!
There are definite positives to all this. My boyfriend gets up earlier than me and is content knowing he can make all the noise in the world, and it will not disturb me. He also enjoys making coffee in the morning using our loud coffee grinder. My benefit is waking up to a nice cup of coffee waiting for me.
At night, I like to do some reading before going to sleep. My boyfriend likes to play video games or catch up on television. I am able to enjoy my quiet time by taking off my hearing instruments and he is free to have the volume at whichever level he is comfortable with. This works nicely in that we can enjoy being in the same room together doing our own thing.
We are both becoming more aware of how we communicate. With consistent reminders, we will be able to implement these modifications naturally. This does require patience and understanding from all communication partners, as maintaining relationships involve more than one person to make it work. In the end, these adjustments make you more of an effective communicator.
“We are both becoming more aware of how we communicate.”
Are you living with someone with hearing loss? What communication adjustments did you have to make?
AUTHOR DETAILSJacqueline DrexlerJacqueline Drexler is an audiologist working for Phonak. She has severe to profound hearing loss, bilaterally. She wears a colorful Phonak Sky B hearing aid her left ear and a cochlear implant in the right ear. She is passionate about all things audiology.
I love the way yellow has flooded into everyone’s summer ensemble this year. It screams happiness, really captures your attention and draws your eye in. And for good reason. Yellow is the brightest color of the visible spectrum, and it is the most noticeable of all colors by the human eye. We can’t help but stare at it. And lucky for us, this is one sun you can stare directly at.
I’m a sucker for outfits already put together for me, be it jumpsuits, dresses, or two piece sets. And like I said I’m loving the yellows this year so needless to say I jumped on this yellow two piece linen ray of sunshine the day I saw it at Forever21. I know what you’re thinking, that’s a S* ton of one color. But I never understood why people are afraid to go all one color. The last few years everyone was so stuck on just a small pop of color for their outfits; more than a red bag or blue shoes was simply overload. I get it, you’re afraid of getting called a banana or cucumber or raspberry. But I say skip the “rule” of breaking up color and be a hot ass banana.
I also love that in the last couple years we’ve quickly transitioned from shoulder cut outs (super odd looking if you ask me) to big puffy 80’s sleeves. This is sure to be short lived as well so jump on this funky train while you can! (I was feeling like Princess Diana on her wedding day in this top.)
While I styled this set with summer macrame heels, I would love to see it with white sneakers to play down the dazzle. I think bright white shoes would be the perfect modern 80’s addition to this yellow two piece. So brave it this year and pull out your one color fruit outfit you’ve been dying to wear. Because let’s be serious, we don’t wear these outfits to not get noticed.
What do you think? Would you ever wear all-yellow, or all any one color, for that matter?
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