Ten Tips for Hearing better at Face to face meetings
- Read the previous minutes or agenda to give yourself an idea of upcoming topics
- Arrive 15 minutes early to meetings so you can choose the best seat to hear the speaker.
- If someone is presenting or you are on a teleconference with a phone on loudspeaker, choose the seat as close to that person as possible (still maintain social distancing guidelines)
- If it is a group meeting with everyone contributing – pick a seat in the middle to give you the chance to hear on either side of you. New social distancing means sounds will be further away than before so being in the middle might give you the best chance to hearing on both sides.
- Take notes, so if you missed out on something, you can ask a colleague after the meeting to clarify what was said about the topic you had written down.
- Be assertive – if you are having trouble hearing, simply explain you are having some difficulty hearing clearly and ask your colleague to slow down and speak a little louder.
- After any presentations, turn the room lights back on to allow you to have a clear vision of people’s lips when they talk.
- Face the person talking to you.
- If you wear hearing aids, be sure to have fresh batteries inserted before the meeting.
- If you are still having trouble, consider talking to Kelly or Pavel about Roger or microphones to connect with your hearing aid and help you hear better.
Ten Tips for Hearing better in Virtual meetings
- Possibly before the meeting, ask the host/ coordinator to check with everyone that their face is visible and lit up. Facing a window with natural light will allow facial expressions to be seen clearly and help with lip-reading.
- Try to use a PC or laptop rather than your phone so a bigger screen to see people’s faces clearly.
- Ask for an agenda before the meeting so you are familiar with topics that will be discussed
- Ask for the session to be recorded and sent to you so you can review anything you may have missed.
- If you are wearing hearing aids, ensure the wireless streaming is connected so you can stream the sound straight into your hearing aids. Also check your batteries are fresh.
- Take notes, so if you missed out on something, you can ask or email a colleague after the meeting to clarify what was said about the topic you had written down.
- Be assertive – if you are having trouble hearing, simply explain you are having some difficulty hearing clearly and ask your colleague to slow down and speak a little louder.
- Ask for a copy of the presenter’s notes
- Make use of the Chat feature in most virtual platforms so you can ask a question or clarify something without unmuting yourself
- If you are having any trouble, book in with Kelly or Pavel to find some solutions on 8331 8047.
