tips for gaming with a hearing-impaired player?

[Velaryon]

I say hearing-impaired rather than deaf because this player is not entirely deaf, but wears hearing aids, and still has difficulty hearing.

Here's the full scenario: I run a D&D club for teens at my public library. This young (pre-)teen came in yesterday with parents to ask about the D&D club. He himself hasn't really played before, but both of his parents have played previous editions and so they've gotten him interested. He's also relatively new to the area, because his parents move frequently for work. His dad told me this evening that they're hoping this will be a good social outlet for him.

I've never gamed with anyone with hearing impairments before and I want to make sure this works as well for him as possible. So far in my limited experience, he can hear if you speak to him directly and with somewhat elevated volume (not like shouting, but a little louder than normal). His dad is planning to accompany and help him, at least for the first session or two. Normally we don't allow adults in teen events, but I think this would definitely be a reasonable exception.

I'm wondering if anyone here has experience in this kind of situation and can help me think of ways to make sure this works as well as possible. Right now my main concern is how well he'll be able to follow and participate in the other players' conversations, as I have a highly variable number of teens (sometimes as few as 4 or 5, sometimes 10 or 11), and things can get a little chaotic. We also haven't been playing with miniatures, and I wonder if the lack of visual aid might make things more difficult.

Does anyone have advice, tips, suggestions, etc. to help me get this right? Thanks in advance for whatever you can give me.

[Vahnavoi]

My experience concerns people who were fully deaf and communicated by signing. They were accompanied by a personal aide who served as translator between me and them, when written communications weren't enough.

Since your player has partial hearing, this might not be necessary, but you can ask the dad if this is something he's done. Beyond that, situate the person closest to yourself, in a position where you can talk directly to them. Failing this, instruct the player next to them to repeat your words if requested. Use clear gestures and visual identifiers to show who you are talking to, and who is talking to you. Enforce a turn order and request that people do not speak on top of each other. Tell people to raise their hand if they need to speak out of turn order, for whatever reason.

A lot of the advice is applicable to any public setting, to keep noise levels down. Everyone will have a hard time hearing what you say if people speak chaotically without following any protocol. Which is why schools and militaries drill people to follow a protocol.

[Kane0]

- Eye contact when speaking to them
- Focus on speaking clearer rather than louder or slower, though of course go with whatever they find easier
- Be ready to repeat and rephrase yourself, and be patient with doing so
- With big groups, emply audio discipline. Even something as basic as 'the talking ball'
- Visual aids and materials where you can, doesnt have to be a traditional map and minis if you have alternatives like a white board or some basic props (town map, color-coded action chart, spell cards, etc)

Edit: oh and position him favorably. That might be close to you or that might be in the middle so everyone is more or less equally distant to him

[Pauly]

Based on my experience teaching ESL to people with hearing impairment.

Most important.
One person speaks at a time.
If you do nothing else do this.

Other things that may be helpful.
- visual aids. Charts, diagrams, maps, figures, printouts of exposition.
- establish any problem ranges. Some people have difficulty with high pitched sounds, others low pitched sounds.
- don’t mumble.
- use short concise sentences. Avoid rambling run-on sentences.
- repeat rather than rephrase. It’s easier to put the same jigsaw together a second time than it is to put together a second different jigsaw. At times you will need to rephrase, but try repetition first.
- avoid distractions in the environment - music, TV playing in the background, other nearby groups, traffic noise, strippers pole dancing etc. as much as you can. The person needs all their brainpower on processing the talk so anything that distracts, not just noise, makes things more difficult.
- use big hand gestures - if it’s someone’s turn to talk gesture with your whole arm, not a finger point or head nod.

[stoutstien]

- Eye contact when speaking to them
- Focus on speaking clearer rather than louder or slower, though of course go with whatever they find easier
- Be ready to repeat and rephrase yourself, and be patient with doing so
- With big groups, emply audio discipline. Even something as basic as 'the talking ball'
- Visual aids and materials where you can, doesnt have to be a traditional map and minis if you have alternatives like a white board or some basic props (town map, color-coded action chart, spell cards, etc)

Edit: oh and position him favorably. That might be close to you or that might be in the middle so everyone is more or less equally distant to him

This.

I'd add in learning a little ASL isn't hard and be a fun can be a fun add in for the table as a arand in for thieves can't and the like.

[Velaryon]

Thanks for the tips so far! Please keep them coming. I'll provide an update after the game (which is a week from Monday) and let you all know how it goes.

In the past couple days, I've been emailing back and forth with his dad, and they've helped him come up with a pretty cool character concept that I'm excited about. I think his character will fit well into the party, so as long as I can make sure the same is true of the player, I think this will work out fine.

I'm unclear whether this player speaks ASL or not, but I can ask the dad in my next email.

I like the idea of stationing him and his dad next to me - I had already been thinking along those lines and I'm glad to know I was on the right track there.

I think the biggest challenge is going to be limiting table talk from the other players so that he can follow what's happening. It's already been a bit of an issue, especially since we can have anywhere from 4 or 5 to 10 or 11 teens from one meeting to the next, and there's only me to DM. I've been playing a bit fast-and-loose with continuity, in that if we end in the middle of a scene, we just ignore the fact that some PCs are there who weren't last time, or vice versa, and continue on as if the same group has been there all along. It requires a stronger suspension of disbelief but so far it's been working okay. However, when we do have a lot of players, it can take a while between turns and people tend to pair off in small groups and chat, or outside of rounds I will often have 2 or more people trying to get my attention at the same time. I already know I've got to get a stronger handle on this, but there's a greater imperative now than there was before, to be sure.