Clear Speech Technique Helps Your Hearing Impaired Loved One Understand You

Hearing loss can make your loved one feel isolated, embarrased and frustrated.  You can help by making your own speech easier to understand.

Clear Speech is a technique of speaking in which the speaker attempts to express every word and sentence in a precise, accurate, and fully formed manner.  It is not loud, monotone, artificial or exaggerated.

Opticon gives very good instruction and examples in a PDF you can download.

Clear Speech is:

• Accurate and fully formed
• Naturally slower (This happens automatically when you attempt to be clearer)
• Naturally louder (Your voice raises automatically when you attempt to be clearer)
• Lively, with a full range of voice intonation (tone) and stress on key words
• Characterized by pauses between all phrases and sentences

Here is an example:

Say the sentence:
“The ship left on a two week cruise”
This is the Target Sentence -the sounds we aim to produce.

In a normal conversational speaking voice, this sentence would probably sound more like this:
“The Shiplef ona twoweecruise.”
Some of the vowels are missing, the “t” at the end of “left” disappeared, and the “k” of week became merged into the “c” of “cruise”.

In a Clear Speech style, the sentence would be:
“The ship left__on a two__week cruise”
The vowels sound the way they are supposed to, the “t” at the end of “left” has reappeared, and natural pauses are inserted after “left”, “two” and “week”.

For more information about Clear Speech, download this PDF from Oticon.

For a local hearing specialist who can help you with Clear Speech, contact Dr. Mani Aguilar at the UVA Speech-Language-Hearing Center. Read our article about Dr. Mani Aguilar and the UVA Speed-Language-Hearing Center.

For an example of what it is like to have a hearing test, see a video of Elizabeth having her hearing tested By Bill Murphy at Rivanna Hearing Aid Center.

For more tips about communication with people with hearing loss, see this article.

For more articles like this, see: Resources for Central Virginia, Aging in Place, Care for the Caregiver, Long Distance Caregiving, Communicating with Senior Citizens.

Know someone who worries about their elderly parent in Charlottesville, Staunton, or Harrisonburg Virginia? Care is There Geriatric Care Management can help! Have them contact me, Elizabeth, for a free consultation: 434.326.5323ext 2 or Elizabeth@careisthere.com.

For more information about our services, and to read testimonials from our clients, visit our website. Also, view this short video about our care management services.

Elizabeth Swider, Certified Senior Advisor and Certified Aging in Place Specialist
President, Care is There Geriatric Care Management
Support for independent living and long distance caregiving; assisted living enhancement