Several factors may impact the acoustics or sound quality within your own home.
These factors include distance, directionality, reverberation, and noise. While some of these factors may seem like common sense, others are more complex and may require changes in your home to improve sound quality and make listening easier. Let’s briefly discuss these factors.
Distance: Sound intensity will decrease with the further it is from the source.
Directionality: Sound will be impacted depending on its source. A good example is when someone asks you a question while turned away, facing the sink. The sound is softer because it’s directed toward the sink rather than toward you, and you also lose the ability to see their lips, which can help fill in missed parts of speech.
Reverberation: is the persistence of sound after it is produced. While some sound reflections reach the ear quickly enough to be helpful, others arrive later and create noise, blur important timing cues, and ultimately interfere with speech clarity.
Noise: Any unwanted sound that interferes with the sound you are trying to hear. This can be internal (coming from within your home) or external (coming from outside of your home).
Some communication strategies to maintain around your home include:
Looking at the person you are speaking to, especially at their lips
Asking your family members to get your attention before speaking to you
Only speaking to you from within the same room
Physical modifications can be made to your home to improve your listening experience around the house and to improve sound quality.
Especially for areas with hard floors or high ceilings, simple modifications to reduce reverberation and noise include:
Installing carpets or area rugs, and using pads beneath the carpets and rugs
Adding acoustic tiles to walls or ceilings
Hanging curtains, drapes, or acoustically treated blinds/shades
Adding bookshelves or blanket ladders to rooms, especially in the corners
Covering table surfaces with fabric
Adding materials like tennis balls to chairs and/or table legs
Installing rubber pads underneath any noisy equipment
Other modifications that may require some investment include:
Installing double-pane windows
Ensuring doors are solid pane and seal tightly
There may also be Assistive Listening Devices that would be beneficial, such as TV adaptors or Remote Microphones.
TV adaptors will allow the sound from the TV to go directly to a hearing aid, without affecting the TV volume for anyone else watching.
Remote Microphones will pick up speech and send it directly into a hearing aid, allowing the hearing aid user to hear the speech signal much more clearly than any other sounds that may be occurring.
While not all of these changes may be necessary, you can begin with simpler modifications and communication strategies. Depending on how much your listening improves, you may choose to explore additional changes. For guidance, speak with your hearing care professional, who can make recommendations tailored to your specific needs.