communication

Communication

Communication is the cornerstone of good relationships and friendships. If you can't hear, it can affect your friendships and your effectiveness at work and at play.

It is important to remember that people with a hearing loss may 'listen with their eyes' and have natural or learnt lipreading ability.

We believe that good communication can make all the difference and that there are a number of strategies and coping mechanisms that can help to improve conversation in social environments.

Lipreading

Lipreading is reading the visual information of the spoken word. This includes how the lips, tongue and jaw move, as well as other facial expressions. When someone is speaking their facial movements, gestures and body language give us clues to help us follow what they are saying. Many hard of hearing people find lipreading helps them to understand more of a conversation.

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Lipspeakers

If you are already a lipreader you may have used the services Lipspeaker. Lipspeakers are hearing people who are trained to act as language service professionals who assist with communication between deaf and hearing people.

Lipspeakers silently repeat a speaker's message as it is being spoken and the hard of hearing person lipreads them. They reproduce clearly the shape of the words and the natural rhythm and stress used by the speaker. They use facial expression, gesture, and, if requested, fingerspelling, to aid the lipreader's understanding.

More about lipspeakers >>

Other communication support

If you are not a lipreader you may benefit from other forms of communication support. All registered language service professionals work to a code of practice, which includes a requirement for confidentiality.

Other types of communication support include:

Speech to Text Reporters
British Sign Language Interpreters
Sign Supported English Interpreters
Cued Speech Transliterators