Hearing Tips for your Holidays Self explanatory

Holiday Tips “Blindness will separate you from things, deafness will separate you from people” Hellen Keller. By nature we are social beings. Celebrating holidays and important moments in our lives, is part of who we are. It’s hard to get away from engaging in such activities.

Being social for the deaf and hard of hearing can be challenging. Holiday Tips Being social for the deaf and hard of hearing can be challenging. We all find ways to “cope”. Sometimes we do it in healthy ways, other times we don't.

Holiday Tips Hard times: Sometimes we are in between a time in which we have not quite found effective solutions for our lack of hearing. Patience and active participation in finding the solutions will be important. For this in between time, seek the professional, social, family, friendly support you need. To run and hide will just make things worse for you emotionally.

Holiday Tips Holiday ideas: If you have the equipment needed to hear and communicate, here are some ideas / tricks to use to survive all the social...

Holiday Tips Restaurants: Request the quietest spot possible Seek out restaurants with carpet and low ceilings Seek out restaurants with a ceiling period. Some restaurants have the “factory” design in which there is no ceiling and you see pipes and the tin roof. This makes for a difficult hearing situation. Request more lighting at the table if needed Place yourself with your back to a wall

Holiday Tips Restaurants: Sit yourself where you can see most everyone at the table Request that the “tinsel” music be turned down Stay away from sitting near the entrance and exit for the kitchen Use a group microphone that can interact with your hearing instrument Bring a pad and pen if needed

Holiday Tips At home: Arrange the furniture in a way that is helpful for you Sit where you can see most everyone Have your back to a wall, away from noises such as the refrigerator, or other noise making things in the home See that there is no music playing in the background

Holiday Tips At home: Use a group microphone if your hearing instrument is equipped to handle one Ask if they would mind to talk one person at a time so you don't miss out on the fun conversations Keep all requests in a positive / fun light See that there is sufficient lighting in the room

Holiday Tips Environmental Considerations: The larger the room & higher the ceiling, the more difficult it will be to hear Background noise and music will interfere with hearing others Louder is not better Being closer to the source is more helpful Using ALDs in more difficult environments might help reduce the stress, your stress particularly Focus on one-on-one communication to connect with others during the celebration Many people talking at the same time will reduce your ability to understand

Holiday Tips Caring for yourself: Take breaks Learn which program on your hearing instrument will be best ahead of time Practice using ALDs (assistive listening devices) Let your needs be known. Not advocating for yourself will only hurt you Get your rest. Listening in a groups/celebrations is hard work Have someone rescue you when you appear tired and fading away

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For more information contact: Eloise Schwarz Hearing Loss Support Specialist eloise6376@gmail.com http://metromilwaukeehlaa.weebly.com/ “The only thing worse than hearing the alarm clock in the morning is not hearing it.” unknown