8 Back-to-School Communication Tips

Make Hitting the Books Even Easier With These Helpful Tricks

It’s practically back-to-school time! Whether the students in your life are heading back to class in person or online, keep these helpful tips in mind.

1. Maximize lipreading. Hearing and lipreading work together to enhance communication, making clear masks an important tool for teachers if using protective equipment for in-person learning. It also helps for speakers to appear on camera during virtual classes so that participants can see their lips.
2. Turn on live captioning during virtual lessons, or ask the host — if applicable — to activate the option. Free apps and web-based services are also available for live transcribing of speech.
3. Curb background noise. Learning from home can be challenging amid the everyday sounds of household life, but setting up in a quieter room, wearing connected headphones, and closing the door to shut out distracting background noise can help facilitate speech understanding.
4. Use the chat function — if available when using an online virtual platform — to help clarify any missed points. And remember: There’s a good chance others may need clarification, too, and will appreciate the request.
5. Pair a compatible wireless multimicrophone with your hearing device to enhance hearing in one-on-one and group environments.
6. Stream audio directly to your hearing technology. Modern hearing aids can receive audio directly from sources such as smartphones, computers, stereos, and more — depending on compatibility — and make it easy to personalize sound for specific listening and learning needs.
7. Help your hearing aids and mask coexist. If wearing hearing aids, help keep them undisturbed and working their best by choosing masks that wrap around the head rather than the ears.
8. Choose the mask setting on your hearing aids — if the option is available — to help clearly and confidently communicate with others who are wearing face coverings.

How’s Their Hearing?

Schedule regular hearing checkups for the schoolkids in your household — just as you would for their eyes and teeth — and recognize some of the signs of potential hearing loss:

• Struggling to understand people speaking through masks
• Trouble following lessons or instructions from teachers
• Frequent responses of “Huh?” or “What?”
• Complaints of noise or earaches
• Turning up the television volume
• Failing grades or reports that your child doesn’t respond in class
• A gut feeling that something’s off with your child’s hearing

Improved hearing can play a big role in helping students perform their best in class. So don’t wait. Schedule back-to-school hearing evaluations for the whole family today!