Forming new relationships can feel difficult when you have hearing loss as sometimes it may seem as though there is a barrier when trying to communicate with other people. As you get older, there will be experiences when you are forced to meet new people, for example, going to university or starting a new job. These can be daunting experiences for most people, but throw hearing loss into the mix and it can be an even scarier situation. Some people feel socially withdrawn and avoid situations which will involve carrying out conversations with others due to challenging listening environments. However, in these circumstances it is inevitable that you will have conversations with people who don't know how to communicate with you.

There are plenty of ideas and tips that can help in these situations. Buzz suggests five tips that can enable new people to communicate better with you and they have even put it in a postcard and poster format, which can be put, for example, in the common room or in the work kitchen. It also highlights myths that people believe are true about deaf people, such as "Deaf people can hear everything with their hearing aids or cochlear implants." Helping people to know how best to communicate with you can help. You can find information here too about what you can do when communicating with a hearing person in order to make your experience better.