UX/UI Design considerations for the Deaf, deaf, and hard of hearing

Since making my career move to UX design, I’ve been drawn to accessibility. As I began learning about this world, it quickly became apparent how important accessibility is to those who need it the most, and how beneficial everyone else finds optimised and considerate design.

For example — How many of us appreciate subtitles on Netflix while we eat or find we have to adapt to quite often awful sound mixes in modern film? Though it should be noted that in Netflix’s case, this was hard won by the historic settlement case of the National Association of the Deaf et al v Netflix, which ensured that the streaming service would provide closed captions on its services. Now we all take advantage of the function.

In this journey to become a better and more inclusive designer, one that prioritises things like accessibility and privacy-by-design wherever possible, I understood from the outset that it would be wise to speak directly with as many different users as I can.

So, I thought about my immediate circles and my friend, Twanna A. Hines, M.S., came to mind. Twanna is an American award-winning sexual health educator, writer, and entrepreneur. She is also hard of hearing, a user of hearing aids, and proficient in American Sign Language (amongst other languages!).

When we began messaging about the topic of accessibility for users like her, she clarified some very important things for me to think about right from the outset.

Perhaps most importantly was to remember that no one group is a true monolith.

The difference between Deaf, deaf, and hard of hearing

In the UK alone, it’s estimated 1 in 6 people are deaf, hard of hearing, or affected by tinnitus. That’s around 12 million people. And the numbers are predicted to rise to 14 million by 2035. The WHO puts the worldwide figure of those living with hearing loss at more than 1.5 billion.

The types and levels of hearing loss across this demographic naturally falls on a spectrum. There are also cultural and psychological variations between people in this group to consider too, alongside the physiological disabilities themselves.

For designers, some high level grouping and awareness of the differences is useful. But note that language and definitions too can vary between sources and groups, and evolve or fall behind as society keeps moving forward. Government, civil rights organisations, charities, and international bodies are useful sources of up-to-date best practices.

Why are these differences important for designers to consider? Because for users they equate to different life experiences, different ways of thinking and behaving, different ways of engaging with devices, content, and the world itself.

Let’s look at some of the most commonly accepted terms and the people they represent.

‘Deaf’ (with the capital ‘D’) people have been deaf either from birth or since before they began to learn how to talk. For those prelingually deaf, sign language is often their first language with the spoken language of their country or community of origin as their second language. This relationship with sign language and a shared, lifelong way of living without sound is the basis of the community of Deaf people. Being Deaf for those in this group has a great deal to do with being part of a unique culture and identity.

‘deaf’ (lowercase ‘d’) refers to those who developed moderate severe hearing loss later on in life. Perhaps from a progressive condition, accident, sustained environmental factors (e.g. working conditions contributing), or old age. Spoken language is usually their first language. Their affiliation with the Deaf community is not always certain. They may communicate orally, via sign language, or both depending on the situation.

‘Hard of hearing’ refers to those dealing with mild to moderate hearing loss or have experienced impairment since birth. They most likely communicate orally, often assisted by hearing aids, though of course may also learn Sign Language. As Twanna put it in her own article; “Many understand deafness, but few understand what it means to be hard of hearing. Being hard of hearing doesn’t mean I can’t hear. I can. It also doesn’t mean I have hearing loss. I didn’t lose anything; I was born this way.”

Alongside degrees of hearing loss, it should be understood that there are other auditory conditions which designers should take into consideration when working on solutions, products, services, and even environments. Take Hyperacusis — sensitivity to certain frequencies or volumes, which can cause annoyance, discomfort, or even outright pain. Or tinnitus, where sufferers experience periodic or even permanent ringing, hissing, or crackling in their ears alongside other sounds from their environment.

So, how do we use this information when it comes to better inclusivity and accessibility in UX design? How do we apply it to products, services, content, platforms, even the workplace itself?

Specific challenges to think about

The unifying factor is absence or interference of sound — whether mild or extreme, whether it was never there to begin with or it was lost in later life. This is the fundamental challenge for designers to address.

The “solve for one — extend to many” inclusivity principle then seems pretty apt here, right? Provide a visual alternative like subtitles to any auditory content, for anyone with any kind of hearing impairment, and the job’s done.

No. Of course not. There’s a lot more for designers to think about and do than shove a video through an AI caption generator. In fact, there are even nuances to optimising those captions.

UX areas to think about

I’ve broken down considerations into two key areas that are immediately applicable for most designers and companies.

1. Devices and content — what are the hearing impaired engaging with (digital solutions, products, services, and content), and what are they engaging with it on?
2. Processes and people — how are the hearing impaired doing things and how are they interacting with others they need to?

There is a third area, however these considerations are perhaps a bit beyond the scope of most designers’ capability to cater to. And my current knowledge to write accurately about, I’ll admit.

3. Context and environment — when and where are the hearing impaired engaging with designs and how can you affect improve the design of the environment?

Many options in the first two areas are fairly easy to implement and won’t break the bank. However, some bigger design choices around interior design and architecture might just. This was an area I hadn’t even thought about until I came across articles about spaces designed specifically to improve the lives and experiences of those with hearing impairments.

This is an incredibly interesting area of design and one I will be exploring in more depth in future articles. In the meantime, I recommend having a look at the DeafSpace website for starters.

For now, I’ll just discuss the first two areas and leave context and environment for future writings.

Devices and content

Let’s begin by making your solutions and content accessible to the hearing impaired. What can you look at for starters?

Videos/audio

• Provide volume controls on all media
• Resist autoplay!
• Ask, is your page overloaded with pop-ips, ads, videos and audio? Is the actual content people are there for easily to access or do they have to fight to get to it?
• Check out the best sound quality standards for your audio/video and adhere to them. For example, here’s some recommendations for LinkedIn and YouTube respectively
• Avoid low quality audio by investing in good microphones/recording equipment and recording in the best possible environment to avoid excess or debilitating background noises

Transcripts and subtitles/captioning

• Don’t provide video/audio without either subtitle captions or an accompanying transcript either on the page or available for download. Ideally, provide both options — captions in the video and transcript underneath. Also, if you do bring on a Sign Language interpreter, that’s great but you should also still provide the aforementioned as not all deaf or hard of hearing people know Sign Language
• Synchronise captions with the video
• Proofread and edit any captions generated by AI. Mistakes may be humorous for some but frustrating for others and many auto-caption providers aren’t up to 100% accuracy yet
• Remove mistakes/non-essential/distracting/confusing captioning
• Ideally indicate who is speaking
• Highlight important sounds that are relevant

Visual notifications alongside sound

• If your solution relies on sound alone to indicate new notifications, tips, or warnings, this can isolate and potentially endanger functionally deaf users
• Provide visual cues in addition to audio to avoid any confusion for people who can’t hear errors or successes in a process
• Provide a visual indicator for each audio cue in the context of what triggered it. If you don’t, users might not know what the visual indicator actually refers to

Language

• Remember that English may not be everyone’s first language. Some people may have British or American Sign Language as their first language. Sentence structure between English and Sign Language can differ. Similarly, other people whose first language isn’t English will also benefit from a cleaner, clearer approach to this practice
• Be aware that there are differences between Sign Languages themselves — if you do employ an interpreter, say in America, the interpreter will be using American Sign Language, which is different to British Sign Language. There is no set ‘English Sign Language’ to cover all the bases

Sign Language interpreter provision

• Provide live Sign Language interpretation where possible and factor in the interpreter’s rates into you budget
• Be aware of the difference between exact transcription and translation when it comes to Sign Language — the expression, grammar and syntax differs greatly from that of spoken languages. I highly recommend reading the fantastic linked article (and comments beneath) by Lisa Herrod, who explains some of the subtleties and challenges of bridging the gap between spoken English (and all its weirdness) with the natural pragmatics of Sign Language
• Minimise the chances of misinterpretation e.g. by avoiding slang, idioms, euphemisms, or excessive synonyms in the original content which may be lost in translation. This isn’t an exercise in dumbing down, only a recognition that clearer English can be better for all users, where possible

Written copy

• Write as plainly as possible
• Minimise jargon and slang
• Provide glossaries for technical vocabulary
• Minimise the chances of misinterpretation
• Be wary of copious copy that can become a strain to read. Break it up. Keep lines as short as possible

Interaction design

• Keep layouts and navigation as simple and as logical as possible
• Adhere to common visual design principles for accessibility for all
• Given those with hearing impairments rely heavily or completely on visuals, try not to overload your pages or use designs that result in eye strain and fatigue. Good advice that all users will appreciate but especially those more reliant on that sense than others

Processes and people

Next, let’s think about how the hearing impaired navigate processes and interact with others.This includes both users of your solutions and your own internal team members who may need accommodating.

Communication options

• Provide multiple alternatives to telephone for contacting you
• Email should be provided alongside telephone, minimum
• Don’t make emails so hard to find behind multiple customer service and FAQ pages
• Look into providing forms alongside a ticket system if you’re reluctant to provide an open email address for spam reasons
• Look into providing chatbots and/or real customer service agents with online chat capabilities for those who cannot use a telephone
• Let people specify how they would like to be contacted by you e.g. via email rather than telephone. And actually listen to them

In-house awareness and behaviour

• Encourage an environment in which those with a hearing impairment feel comfortable in telling people
• Ensure staff are aware of the communication needs of their colleagues within the team and encourage better practices e.g. face your colleague directly whenever speaking so as to aid lip reading, and the reading of facial expressions which can convey as much as tone and delivery

Provide devices and device support

• Provide good quality headphones
• Provide spare batteries or hearing aid charging capabilities

Video conferencing

• Have people turn their screen video on so that people can see who is actively speaking. This may also aid lip reading for some, though depending on camera and connectivity quality (think lags) the improvement may be minimal in some cases

Speech to text software

• Remember to use software that provides live speech-to-text software like Ava, Google Live Transcribe, or Microsoft Teams’ Live Transcription so colleagues don’t miss out on dynamic group conversations or talks, whether in person or over video calls

Training materials

• As you would with external facing content, provide the same visual alternatives and standards for things like training videos and online courses; subtitles/captions, transcriptions, and Sign Language where possible
• Record all training sessions and provide written transcriptions afterwards if this wasn’t possible during the live session itself

Conclusion

“Nothing about us, without us”.

Keep this principle in mind when working on implementing any of the above. If you’re going to design for a certain group of people then you should be consulting and testing with them to make sure you’re getting it right. Speak with them about what they need. Test, don’t assume.

Everyone deserves accessibility and technology is making it increasingly easier, and cheaper, for us to make accommodations to more and more people facing challenges. Ingraining accessibility-by-design into your products, services, and content will open up more of the world to those previously excluded, and open up your business to a bigger market and all the benefits that brings.

Lastly, bear in mind the increasing regulatory shifts towards accessibility. Not just for those with hearing impairments, but all disabilities. Earlier in this article, I meantioned the NAD v Netflix case, from the US. There, the Americans with Disabilities Act forms a strong impetus to meet accessibility standards and the risk of lawsuits for those who don’t comply is rising.

In Europe, or the European Union at least, the European Accessibility Act was adopted in 2019 and member states were to bring in their own national interpretations into their legislation by last year. Come June 2025, enforcement of digital accessibility standards within the private sector will be in effect. If you’re selling your products and services to customers within the EU, you’ll have to comply in order to compete.

Make the leap now. Don’t wait to be pushed.