Use of communication strategies by adults with hearing impairment

Abstract

Communication strategies may be used by individuals with hearing impairment to rectify communication breakdowns. Training individuals to use such strategies effectively has become a major part of many audiological rehabilitation programmes. The primary aim of this study was to investigate communication strategies used by adults with hearing impairment to overcome communication breakdowns occurring in one-to-one and group conversations. The secondary aim was to compare actual and reported communication strategy use. The group consisted of 23 adults with mild to moderate hearing impairment, ranging in age from 60 to 91 years. Participants were observed in natural one-to-one conversation, in a one-to-one conversational assessment task designed to elicit breakdowns in communication, and in a group conversation. In addition, a questionnaire about communication strategy use was administered. The results showed that request for repetition was the most commonly used communication strategy. Significantly more communication strategies were observed during the conversational assessment task designed to elicit breakdowns. The types of strategies used in this task were similar to those observed during the natural one-to-one conversation, and both were different from those used in the group task. The overall agreement between actual and reported strategy use was low (38%), with participants reporting a wider range of strategies than were actually used. The findings of this study suggest the importance of assessing actual, rather than reported, communication strategy use and indicate that using a technique in which breakdowns in communication are elicited may be an efficient way of assessing actual communication strategy use in the clinic situation.