Table 2.

Key communication strategies

Strategy	Rationale
Speak face-to-face	When the speaker’s face is turned toward the listener, there is improved signal-to-noise ratio, and the listener uses facial cues to fill in the gaps that he/she may not have heard.
Reduce background noise	The ability to understand speech in the presence of background noise or distractors (e.g., television or restaurant noise) declines as a function of age, even for older adults without hearing loss.
Speak slower, instead of louder	When someone speaks loudly or shouts, it actually distorts the speech, often making it more difficult to understand. Also, shouting can make both the speaker and the listener more stressed.
State the topic	By making the topic of conversation clear at the beginning, the listener can more effectively use context cues to fill in the gaps.
Rephrase the statement	Repeating oneself becomes frustrating for the speaker and the listener. When the question or statement is rephrased, the listener has more context cues to fill in the gaps. In addition, some words are actually easier to hear depending on the person’s hearing loss and the frequencies of the sounds in the word.