First of all, avoid drawing attention to the individual user. That person may not be comfortable with using the device, and may not want to be singled out. Jokes (Hey-what’s the score on that ball game?), announcements (Would the hearing impaired student please raise his hand?), and questions (Is this working-can you hear me?) may be completely innocent, but totally unwelcome to the student. Respect the student’s comfort level with their hearing loss. Until you know this, check in with the student privately or the DSS coordinator if you have any questions.
Remember that the only sound that is coming across the ALD is what is going into the microphone. If someone in the audience has a question or comment, repeat it into the microphone so that the hearing-impaired user will also hear the question (usually the rest of the audience appreciates this too!)
Place the mic close to your mouth…and keep it there! Don’t wave it around, use it as a pointer, rattle papers in front of it, or drop it or otherwise abuse it (and the listener’s ear!) Using a unidirectional mic (for single speakers) is helpful to cut down on other noises coming in around the mic. And, of course, remember the importance of visual cues in speech reading. Don’t hold the mic so that it blocks the view of your mouth.
Overheads are the bane of hearing aid user’s existence, for a couple of reasons. Folks with normal hearing don’t notice, but they are VERY noisy! Turn it off if it is not in use, or step away from it to keep the sound of the fan from being transmitted directly into the listener’s ear! Second, people tend to point at the slides and continue talking. The student will miss what you are saying while they try to view what you are pointing at! This is difficult for hearing people to remember, and they often do not realize how important it is. I had an ‘aha!’ moment with this that may help. I was getting computer instructions from someone on a tty that did not have a printer. The only way I could ‘hear’ the person was when I was watching the tty display-which only displays about 25 characters at a time. I could not execute the instructions until he told me to, because the minute I looked at the computer screen to see what he was talking about, I’d miss the next instruction. Don’t ignore this important tip!
