Whether you enjoy grocery shopping or find it more akin to doing the dishes, it’s a part of all our lives. For the 15% of U.S. adults with hearing loss, that errand may not be as simple as driving to the store and picking up the food you need for the week. It can actually create a complex communication environment.
Let’s examine a few hearing challenges at the grocery store and what you can do to overcome them.
Hearing Challenges at the Grocery Store
A few things that can pose challenges at the grocery store include:
- Background noise. Beeping scanners, cash registers opening and closing, carts with squeaky wheels and intercom music can create a wall of sound that makes it harder to focus on important speech. Shopping around the holidays, when stores are packed with shoppers searching for the same items, is an even louder experience.
- Garbled store announcements. It’s an old joke that you can’t understand what train or bus conductors are saying through patchy intercoms. Well, that can also be true of grocery store intercoms. When the speech that comes through is fragmented and staticky, it’s more challenging for people to understand.
- Communicating with store workers. When you’re at Super 1 Foods, you might need to ask where the cranberry sauce is or get the total from your cashier at checkout. With all the buzzing background noise, it can be difficult to understand their speech clearly, resulting in a confusing or frustrating experience.
Overcoming Hearing Challenges
Try the following to overcome hearing challenges at the grocery store:
- Use self-checkout lanes. Self-checkout lanes offer visual and auditory information to help you complete the checkout process without needing to have a full conversation.
- Ask for rephrasing. If you prefer to use the regular checkout lane, make sure you’re asking for clarification when you need it. You can also try repeating back in the form of a question if you aren’t sure you heard correctly. For example, if your cashier says, “That will be $15.50,” you could say, “Did you say $15.50?” giving them the chance to repeat themselves if necessary.
- Shop during quiet hours. Early morning and late evening are usually the quietest times to shop. If it works for your schedule, try to shop during those hours. Some grocery stores even offer senior hours on the first hour of every Wednesday. The day’s schedule varies by store, so please call your local Tyler grocer to check if your store offers senior hours.
- Wear hearing aids. Your hearing aids pick up and amplify speech sounds, making communication easier. Don’t forget them when you head to the store.
With a few of these tips, you can enjoy a less stressful shopping experience. For more information on managing hearing loss, contact SoundLogic today.