Hearing Grandchildren More Clearly

When Hearing The People Who Matter Most Becomes Difficult

Spending time with grandchildren should be about enjoying conversations, hearing their stories and being part of what's going on. But for many people, children's voices can be surprisingly difficult to follow.

You may hear your grandchild speaking but miss individual words. Perhaps you understand them perfectly well when you're sitting together in a quiet room, but struggle as soon as you're in the car, at a family gathering, in a restaurant or outside.

It can be particularly frustrating when everyone else appears to be following the conversation without difficulty.

And it isn't necessarily simply a question of turning up your hearing aids or asking your grandchild to speak louder.

Why Can Children's Voices Be Difficult To Understand?

Children don't always communicate in the same way as adults.

They may:

• Speak quickly.
• Talk while facing away from you.
• Speak quietly.
• Change subject rapidly.
• Talk while moving around.
• Have higher-pitched voices.
• Speak at the same time as other children.

Add background noise, distance and several family members talking at once and understanding what is being said can become much harder.

For someone with hearing loss, even a relatively small reduction in speech clarity can mean individual words disappear from a sentence.

Your brain then has to work harder to fill in the missing information.

"I Can Hear Them - I Just Can't Understand Them"

This is an important distinction.

Many people experiencing hearing difficulties aren't necessarily struggling to detect sound. They know their grandchild is speaking.

The difficulty is understanding the words clearly enough to follow the conversation.

You might find yourself saying:

• "What did you say?"
• "Say that again for Grandad."
• "Can you speak up?"
• "Come a bit closer."
• "Don't talk while you're walking away."

Occasionally asking someone to repeat themselves is completely normal. But if it happens constantly, conversations can start to feel like hard work.

Some people eventually stop asking and simply smile or nod instead.

That's when a hearing difficulty can begin to affect something far more important than hearing: participation in family life.

Distance Makes A Bigger Difference Than You Might Think

One of the biggest challenges is distance.

Hearing aids can provide excellent support, but their microphones are located on your ears.

If your grandchild is several metres away, their voice has to travel across the room before reaching those microphones.

During that journey it competes with:

• Television.
• Other conversations.
• Music.
• Kitchen noise.
• Toys.
• Pets.
• Traffic.
• Reverberation within the room.

By the time the voice reaches you, the speech signal may be considerably less clear.

This is why someone may hear their grandchild perfectly well when sitting next to them but struggle when they're playing at the other end of the room.

Bringing Their Voice Closer

One way of overcoming the problem of distance is to use a remote microphone.

Rather than relying solely on microphones located at the listener's ears, a small wireless microphone can be positioned much closer to the person speaking.

Their voice is then transmitted directly to the listener.

This can significantly reduce the effect of distance and surrounding noise.

Phonak Roger On V3

Roger On V3 is particularly useful because it can be used in several different ways.

For example, it can be worn by one person using a lanyard, placed on a table during a family meal, or directed towards a particular speaker.

For compatible hearing aid users, the sound can be transmitted directly into the hearing aids.

This can be useful when:

• Playing with grandchildren.
• Walking together.
• Travelling in the car.
• Eating in a restaurant.
• Sitting around the dinner table.
• Attending school plays or activities.
• Spending time together in busy family environments.

The aim isn't simply to make a child's voice louder. It is to improve access to the voice you actually want to hear.

For One-To-One Time

If the main difficulty occurs when communicating with one person, a dedicated clip-on microphone may be another option.

Phonak PartnerMic

For compatible Phonak hearing aids, PartnerMic can be worn by the person you want to hear.

Their voice is streamed directly to the hearing aids, helping overcome the effects of distance and surrounding noise.

This can be useful when walking together, travelling or spending time somewhere busy.

Roger On offers greater flexibility across different listening situations, while PartnerMic can provide a straightforward solution where communication is primarily one-to-one.

Family Meals And Several Grandchildren

The challenge changes when there are several people around a table.

Instead of following one person, you may need to switch attention constantly as different family members speak.

Roger On In Table Mode

Roger On can be placed on a table where it automatically detects speech from different directions.

This makes it particularly useful for smaller family meals and group conversations.

Roger Table Mic II

For larger tables or more demanding group situations, Roger Table Mic II provides another option.

It is designed specifically for conversations involving multiple speakers and automatically identifies the person speaking.

Multiple Table Mics can also be used together where greater coverage is required.

What If I Don't Wear Hearing Aids?

Not everyone experiencing these difficulties wears hearing aids.

Some people have relatively good hearing but notice that understanding speech has become harder in busy environments. Others may experience auditory processing or listening difficulties despite having hearing levels within the normal range.

For people looking for more situational support, rather than traditional hearing aids, another option may be Nuance Audio Hearing Glasses.

Nuance Audio Hearing Glasses

Nuance Audio combines hearing technology with everyday eyewear.

Directional microphones within the glasses are designed to help enhance the sounds and voices in front of the wearer, with open-ear speakers delivering the sound without traditional hearing aids sitting in the ears.

This makes them particularly interesting for people who generally manage well but would like additional support in certain situations, such as:

• Family meals.
• Restaurants.
• Conversations with grandchildren.
• Social gatherings.
• Cafés.
• Days out.

For someone who doesn't feel they need or want traditional hearing aids, a situational solution like this may provide another way of making conversations easier.

Simple Things Can Help Too

Technology isn't always the first or only answer.

Try:

• Reducing background television or music.
• Sitting closer together.
• Encouraging face-to-face conversation.
• Improving lighting so facial cues are easier to see.
• Choosing quieter areas in restaurants.
• Positioning yourself where you can see everyone around the table.
• Asking family members to get your attention before speaking.

Importantly, asking someone to speak clearly is usually more useful than simply asking them to speak louder.

Conversations Are Worth Protecting

Difficulty hearing grandchildren can seem like a relatively small inconvenience, but communication is a huge part of maintaining close relationships.

If you increasingly find yourself missing stories, jokes or conversations, there are technologies available that can help.

Sometimes the answer isn't simply more volume.

By reducing distance, improving access to speech and making the voice you want to hear clearer, the right listening technology can help you spend less energy trying to hear, and more time enjoying the conversation.