If a hearing-impaired patient is struggling to hear you, what should you first check?

When interacting with a hearing-impaired patient who is having difficulty hearing you, the first step should be to check whether their hearing aid is turned on. This is crucial because if the hearing aid is off, the patient will not receive any amplification of sounds, rendering other attempts at communication ineffective. A hearing aid is designed to assist in hearing, so ensuring it is activated is fundamental to facilitate effective communication.

Other factors, like whether the patient is wearing a hearing aid, the volume of your voice, and background noise level, are also important to consider, but they come into play after confirming that the primary tool used for hearing—the hearing aid—is functioning. Without that assurance, adjusting your voice or addressing noise levels may not help the patient at all. Hence, verifying the power status of the hearing aid is the most logical first step.