Common difficulties

Being Deaf or Hard of Hearing is hard in general, but being Deaf or Hard of Hearing at home can be super frustrating, especially when your family doesn’t understand deafness. But being Deaf or Hard of Hearing isn’t just difficult and frustrating at home; it's also hard on holidays, in water, and in other activities at home. There are a lot of things that contribute to having it hard in these situations, such as: 

Home: 

When you’re at home alone, or at someone else’s house, or even at home with other people, you might miss some really important information or miss important alarms, which can put your life at risk. These things are:

• Smoke alarms or emergency alarms

• Someone is calling for help 

• Phones ringing 

Kitchen timers and appliances are beeping. There are lots of problems when it comes to communication barriers/breakdowns among households, family members, friends, etc, such as: 

• Large household 
• Noisy rooms, and

• Conversations from other rooms or when multiple people speak at once

Deaf or hard-of-hearing people often feel left out during family discussions because they find it difficult to keep up with the conversation due to fast speech, multiple people speaking at once, and multiple conversations. 

 Deaf or hard-of-hearing individuals get fatigued very easily, much more easily than other people, due to how hard they have to concentrate to listen, comprehend, and understand the conversation. Be patient with them. 

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They have trouble understanding you when you’re: 

• Mumbling

• Turning away when talking to them 

• Covering up your mouth while talking to them 

• Have a strong accent 

• Speaking too fast 

You may notice that Deaf or Hard-of-Hearing people get frustrated easily when you ignore their requests. They are asking you to change certain things for a reason, not to be a pain; they need these accommodations so it makes it easier for them, not harder, so please just listen and follow their requests.

When they need to remove their hearing aids/implants while they are having a shower, playing a sport, relaxing, or sleeping, they can feel extremely vulnerable. They tend to feel isolated and that they are alone, and that no one understands them. 

There is also the aspect of independence that a lot of people just don't seem to understand. Deaf or hard-of-hearing people often want to be independent, but they have these fears, such as: 

• Fear of being alone

• Fear of not hearing important alarms, like fire or evacuations

• Being vulnerable at night without their devices

• The fear of always having to depend on others, not being able to manage emergencies independently, and having to rely on someone

There are lots of things that factor into the emotional impact of a Deaf or Hard of Hearing individual, such as: 

•  Feeling like you need to be invisible

• Pretending to understand what is going on and what is being talked about

• Withdrawing from conversations and movies/ TV shows 

• The feeling of always giving up on engaging with conversations and telling people about your hearing loss

• The feeling that there is always conflict in the family because they are unable to understand each other. 

Holidays and travel: 

Going on holidays and trips is often noisy and overcrowded, which can be overwhelming and stressful for deaf or hard-of-hearing people, making communication and having fun difficult. 

Some recommendations that would be useful when going on a trip with someone who is Deaf or Hard of Hearing include: 

• Visual boarding alerts 

• Captioning apps 

• Travel planning

• Written inteneraries 

• Identifying quiet spaces

• Making sure there is a list of emergency contacts available

This will make the trip more enjoyable and safer for the Deaf or Hard of Hearing person.

Going on travel and holidays can be a really difficult time for people with a hearing loss/difficulty. Being in airports can really make hearing hard due to background noise, lots of things going on at once, the sheer size, and people being confused. Not being able to understand what's happening around a deaf or hard-of-hearing person makes them feel isolated, scared, confused, stressed, and even anxious. One of the biggest problems is having to go through the metal detector. If they have implants, it can be really stressful, as they need to take the implants off, and they won't be able to hear, and sometimes the devices get picked up. 

Hotel check-ins can be hard to deal with, especially if you are alone or even with people; they might not understand hearing loss very well, so they might not be much help. Some receptionists at hotels are from a different cultural background and have strong accents,s which can be really hard to understand, a nd what is being said, which can create stress, frustration, and communication breakdowns. 

Public transport is a place where it can be hard to communicate, especially if you are on a transport that is a bus around the city you are in, such as the “hop on hop off” bus, which has headphones that you can plug in and listen to, but they are not suitable for people who are deaf or hard of hearing. That can make them feel left out and isolated. 

Being in an unfamiliar place, with foreign accents, new surroundings/environments, and languages, makes communicating and understanding difficult. 

Deaf or hard-of-hearing individuals may need to remove their hearing aids/implants when they are: 

• At beaches

• At pools 

• During sports 

• During water activities 

This reduces awareness of surroundings and makes communication hard. 

There are lots of risks when it comes to the devices, some of these things are: 

• Water 

• Heat

• Sand

• Sport activities

Things get especially difficult when there are announcements in hotels, airports, schools, shopping centres, or attractions, especially if they ar rover a loudspeaker with background noise, or are spoken aloud. 

When you're planning a trip with someone who is deaf or is deaf yourself, some things need to be considered, such as: 

• They might need visual communication tools 

• Waterproof hearing accessories 

• Insurance for hearing devices. 

Being Deaf or hard of hearing on holidays can make things incredibly difficult for both the individual and the people they are going with or dealing with. You must remember that unfamiliar environments increase communication stress, travel reduces routine and predictability,

Exhaustion increases misunderstandings, and inaccessible announcements can create safety risks.

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Emotional and social: 

You may notice that a lot of deaf and hard-of-hearing people might feel or do these things

• Frustrated

• Exhausted from concentrating 

• Social isolation 

• Anxiety in emergencies 

• Feeling misunderstood 

• Lack of confidence in unfamiliar environments. 

Young deaf children might feel left out when communication isn’t adjusted to their needs, because when they need the adjustment, it's to help them, so they can feel like they fit in and are included with all the other kids.