Customers who are deaf or have hearing loss

Customers who are deaf or have hearing loss

How to help customers who are deaf or have hearing loss

One in six of your customers is likely to experience hearing loss. This number is expected to grow to one in five by 2035 as the population ages.

Depending on the severity of their hearing loss, a customer may use a hearing aid to help them communicate. Others may choose not to or may not even be aware of their hearing loss. People who have profound deafness are more likely to use lip reading or a form of sign language interpretation.

Many British Sign Language users have been Deaf since birth and may not regard it as a ‘disability’, or being ‘disabled’, but just as a different way of communicating.

Speaking to customers

• Welcome assistance dogs and therapy dogs.
• Look directly at the customer when you are speaking to them.
• Do not begin speaking until you have the person’s full attention.
• Do not cover your mouth.
• Do not exaggerate your lip movements or gestures.
• Speak clearly and avoid jargon.
• Try to find a well-lit, quiet place to talk. This will make lip reading easier and enable the person to use any hearing they may have.
• Check that the person is understanding you and rephrase information if necessary. Offer to write down information, but only if the person agrees.
• If the person is using a sign language interpreter, make sure you speak directly to the person, not the interpreter.

Accessible communication

• For face-to-face meetings ask the customer if they have any communication support requirements, such as an interpreter. You have a legal duty to ensure the customer has understood information needed to make an important decision, such as signing a contract or setting up a direct debit.
• Provide announcements and guides in both accessible visual and audio formats.
• If using video, make sure it is captioned.
• Think about the level of any background music. It may make communication more difficult for some customers.
• Consider learning finger spelling or some basic sign language.
• Advances in technology mean that many people who are deaf or have hearing loss are now able to communicate via the phone. Even so, many people may prefer to have a face- to-face meeting or to communicate over email instead. Make sure you offer customers a choice. See section on ‘Delivering great customer service in other settings’ for further information.

Other adjustments

• Check if your building has a hearing loop or a portable hearing loop available. Regularly check that it is working and make customers aware that it is available.
• Find out about the fire alarm system. A visual fire alarm system uses flashing lights to indicate that the fire alarm has been activated, which is helpful to people who are deaf or have hearing loss.

Big ‘D’ Deaf and small ‘d’ deaf

You will see that there are two spellings of deaf – big ‘D’ Deaf and little ‘d’ deaf. This is to ensure that we do not exclude anyone.

In general, big D Deaf is used to describe people who are born with deafness and identify as part of the Deaf Community. A British Sign Language (BSL) user may describe themselves as someone who is Deaf, for example.

Smaller d deaf is a broader term and is used to describe people who identify as part of the hearing community and may use speech or lip reading to communicate.

If in doubt, and if necessary, ask the person how they would like to be described. There is no right or wrong answer and how a person chooses to describe themselves is a matter of personal preference.