4 Tips to Hear Better in Virtual Meetings and Gatherings

If you are working remotely with hearing loss, there is the potential for additional challenges may arise. Whether you are virtual meetings for work or personal gatherings there are ways to make this easier and more enjoyable for you. Here are some tips and strategies to allow these meetings to be more engaging and enjoyable for you.

Know The Platform and Encourage the Other Participants to Use the Video Option

Irrelevant of the platform the meeting is being used, get to know it better. By spending a little time getting to know the host site more allows you to understand what tools are available and how best to use them. This will help you build up your confidence before the meeting starts.

Upon the start of a virtual meeting, it can really help if all participants use the video option and not just the audio. This will aid you in being able to see their lips and facial expressions which are all key components of open and clear communication. To ensure maximum benefit make sure you are focused on those speaking and not purely on your own video image.

Speak to Your Audiologist

There is a wide range of technologies available in all hearing aid styles. To ensure you are benefitting from the best technologies for your daily life and responsibility and needs, it is beneficial to seek professional treatment. By going back and speaking to your audiologist they will be able to understand your needs more and ensure that you are benefitting from technology that is best suited.

Depending upon your degree of hearing loss a review of the product may be helpful and it may become appropriate to make changes. The common types of products used are:

• In the ear (ITE): With these being worn in the ear they are usually custom-built and come in a range of styles and once your requirements are known the best style can be recommended.
• Behind the ear (BTE): These models rest behind or on top of the outer ear. With wires and tubing that runs down into the ear and connects to your ear tip or earmold, connecting them into the ear canal. Due to a wide range of sizes, there are varying features that are available to accommodate individual needs such as controls available, battery life and volume levels.
• In the canal (ITC): These instruments sit in the lower portion of the outer ear, so remain comfortable and very easy to use. Not only do they have a longer battery life, but they can also come with additional features included synch directional microphones, which can benefit under better understandings when in noisy environments and manual controls, such as for the volume. These are designed to fit mild-to-moderate hearing loss.

Your audiologist will also advise if your device has the compatibility to sync to other sources to receive audio and allow this audio to be sent directly to your ears.

Use Headphones

By wearing connected headphones it can help with being able to focus on the conversation being held by removing and blocking the background noise from the environment you are in. By using quality headphones you will be able to improve the reception quality of the audio being received, which can make the speech and other sounds more clear and easily understandable. They can also focus the sound of the meeting towards your ears whilst offering the conversation to be provided at a louder volume whilst also providing additional features such as being able to adjust the volume on one ear over another if needed.

Turn on Written Captions

By turning on the closed-captioned option it can take any pressure off you if you struggle to hear multiple people talking all at once. Some web platforms will come with an option to use a real time chat function can that help decipher chats and provide clarification on what words are being used and allow the opportunity to review the conversation if points were missed and allow you to review and ask follow up questions if needed.

Some web-based video chats can also offer a record option, allow the user the opportunity to playback the meeting, but with this, it is worth understanding whether this can be initiated by yourself or the video host, in order for this feature to be used.

To explore these options in more details or to learn more about the treatment options available to help with any hearing loss call the Pacific Audiology Clinic today at 503-719-4208.