There are several strategies that can be used to facilitate communications between a chiropractor and staff and the deaf or HI patient. The following tips come from my experience as a HI chiropractic patient and as a chiropractor treating deaf and HI patients. With hearing aids, they may actually hear speech at near normal levels. However, they will probably still have trouble understanding speech because the sounds they hear are distorted. Do not shout.
Hearing aids tend to over-amplify background noise.
Background music and conversations can make it difficult for a HI patient to focus on what you are saying. HI individuals may not understand certain words no matter how often they are repeated because of their distorted hearing. Try substituting a different word that has a similar meaning. Most HI people use speech reading to some extent. There are two components of this skill.