Conversation tactics in persons with normal hearing and hearing-impairment

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the tactics people use when aural communication fails owing to environmental circumstances or impaired hearing. DESIGN: Persons with different degrees of self-reported hearing impairment completed an online questionnaire constructed from items taken from the literature on communication strategies but reworded to be understood by people with normal hearing. Tactics were examined for frequency of use in two severities of impairment and between genders. All the data were then factor analysed and factor scores related to variables of relevance to communication. STUDY SAMPLE: A large convenience sample (n = 188) with a range of self-assessed hearing impairment from normal to profound. RESULTS: Descriptive data revealed some differences in frequency of use in relation to severity and gender. Factor analysis yielded six clearly interpretable factors, the largest relating to disengagement (avoidance). Self-assessed impairment was chiefly associated with a speech reading tactic, negatively with environmental optimization strategies, and to a small extent with disengagement and conversation repair. CONCLUSIONS: Only the tactic of speech reading was closely associated with impaired hearing, with some evidence that females were more inclined to use it. Otherwise, all tactics were commonly employed, regardless of hearing status.