Sight and Hearing Impaired (SHI) Australia
Information, advocacy and more.
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Assist Communication
with a person who has a SHI |
Assisting
Communication with a person who has a SHI The guidelines
to assist communication with a person who has a Sight and Hearing Impairment
(SHI) is below. These guidelines
are to assist communication with a person with a SHI as opposed to a person
who is DeafBlind.
We, who have a SHI generally have low or no vision and have impaired
hearing, but have some level of hearing and the main form of communication is
by way of interactive verbal aural speech.
There is a distinction hear that people who are DeafBlind
generally use other forms of communication than interactive verbal aural
speech. The use of the word
‘interactive’ here is to indicate that the speech is sent and received, not
just one way. We who have a SHI make
up about half of all people who have low or no vision. While people who are DeafBlind
only make up a very small number of the people who have low or no
vision. While the term DeafBlind has been used to encompass people who have a
SHI as well, the distinction made here between people who have a SHI and
people who are DeafBlind is very important hear, as
the guidelines below would not be appropriate for people who are DeafBlind, taking into account the distinction that has
been made here. Guidelines
of how to assist communications with a person with a SHI: ·
Speak
moderately slowly. ·
Speak
as clearly as possible. Do not slur or
run your words together. Use your
vocal chords more than your breath in forming your words. That is if you speak like you are
whispering even if it is done loudly will be hard for a person with a hearing
impairment to understand. ·
Try
to speak at one tone level. That is do
not raise or lower the pitch of your voice.
While speaking at a monotone is not very exciting to listen to it
greatly improves the comprehension for a person who has a hearing
impairment. ·
Speak
at a moderate and constant volume. Do
not shout as this causes the words to be distorted and unclear. ·
Any
other sounds that occur while you are speaking will make it very hard for a
person with a hearing impairment to understand you. That is background noise, echoes or another
person speaking while you are talking could make what you are saying completely
incomprehensible to a person who has a hearing impairment. ·
If
you have repeated a word several times and the person with a hearing
impairment still does not understand it, try to choose another word or phrase
that means the same thing. ·
If
a person with a hearing impairment cannot understand one word you are saying
spell it out using the phonetic alphabet.
While many people with a hearing impairment may not know the phonetic
alphabet by usage we all will become more familiar with it. If you use other words to try to spell out
a word other than using the phonetic alphabet this could cause a lot of
confusion and the word you have used to attempt to spell out a word may
itself not be understood by the person with a hearing impairment. A table of
the phonetic alphabet, which is also known as the NATO phonetic alphabet is
below: NATO
Phonetic Alphabet Letter,
phonetic letter A, Alpha B, Bravo C, Charlie D, Delta E, Echo F, Foxtrot G, Golf H, Hotel I, India J, Juliet K, Kilo L, Lima M, Mike N, November
O, Oscar P, Papa Q, Quebec R, Romeo S, Sierra T, Tango U, Uniform V, Victor W, Whiskey X, X-ray Y, Yankee Z, Zulu These guidelines also can be used to assist
communication with a person who has a single sensory hearing impairment, that is a person who does not have vision
impairment as well. That is in
situations where the communication takes place where each person speaking
cannot see each other, as in such cases of, communicating over the telephone. There is a lot here to remember and
understand, and we realistically cannot expect perfection, but the more we
practice these techniques the more we all will find it easier. Also many of these techniques can be
generally useful for better communication for everyone. Hopefully all individuals and organisations
particularly community service provider organisations become aware of these
guidelines and use them.
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