There are many individuals within the workplace as well as our everyday lives who who bump into, perhaps a relative, or even a customer or client that we may have, may have difficulty with hearing.

In these cases it is advisable to respond in a way that is courteous but not demeaning at the same time. Please review the following suggestions.

1. Do not raise your voice at a person after being asked to repeat yourself. Try to show patience and enunciate more clearly the point you were trying to make initially.

2. Scientifically speaking a woman's voice will be more difficult to discern than that of a man. Higher pitched sounds are usually more difficult for a person who is hard-of-hearing to catch on the first time. As a woman or a person with a higher pitched voice, try speaking in a lower pitch to see if the person can here you then.

3. Adjust the tempo of your sentences as necessary. Always show that you are being polite and make every attempt to come across in a clear fashion.

Those are just a few ways to address someone who has hard of hearing problems. Most of this is common sense but in the hustle and bustle of our everyday lives we tend to skimp on the little things. In business and in life, the little things can go a long way and thus shouldn't be neglected wherever possible.