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As a professional speaker, I know how important it is to make sure my body language and facial expressions are matching what I am saying. But as a person with a hearing loss, the language of the body and face is absolutely essential to my ability to comprehend what a person is saying to me. Prior to the days of closed captioning on TV, much of what I gleaned from the TV shows shows was based on body language, facial expressions and tone of voice. And I did pretty darn good! Research tells us how… BODY LANGUAGE AND FACIAL EXPRESSIONS Professor Ray Birdwhistell of the University of Louisville found that in face-to-face conversations two-thirds of the communication takes place non-verbally! In his book titled, Nonverbal Communication, the leading Californian researcher Albert Mehrabian claims facial expressions are almost eight times as powerful as the words used. He explains that words only count for 7% of our message. He further explains that 55% of our message is conveyed by our body language and facial expressions. These statistics, may I remind you, are for people who HEAR. We do this unconsciously, of course. But when communicating with someone with imperfect hearing, be conscious and make sure that person is looking at you when you speak. That is, facing you and about 3-5 feet away. VOCAL VARIETY In addition to body language and facial expressions, I focus on my voice when communicating with my audiences. You should too. Especially if that audience is a person who has a hearing loss. Why? 38% of our message is conveyed by the voice Dr. Albert Mehrabian also reported in his study that 38% of a message is relayed by our voice. Psychologists and physicians are trained to listen not only to words, but to voice. The voice is a reflection of what is going on inside of us. Our voice can be used to help a person with a hearing loss understand what we are saying by employing it in these ways: Voice Tonality Check your voice to see that it matches what you are saying. Note how your voice conveys enthusiasm or boredom; pleasure or pain; sincerity or sarcasm and happiness or sadness. You might even exaggerate the tone of your voice a bit to facilitate comprehension of your words. Repetition Repetition is a powerful tool as a professional speaker. It is a powerful tool when communicating with someone with a hearing loss. If you repeat yourself 3 times and it still is not understood, then REPHRASE. For example: If you say “I’m going to the store” three times and I don’t get it, rephrasing it to “The Market…I’m going to the market” ensures I'll understand. By being aware of and slightly exaggerating your body language, facial expressions and tone of voice will go a long way in helping a person who is hard of hearing understand what you are saying. *** Author: Linnaea Mallette Author Website: Linnaea Mallette Hearing Loss Website/Blog: Hearing Loss Tips
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hearing loss, communication, body langauge, facial expressions, hearing impaired, hard of hearing,
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