One of the most important things you can do to help your relationship is: Ask the other person to get your attention before speaking. If we are not alert to listening, we will nearly always misunderstand what was said. We usually respond with "HUH" or "WHAT" and that gets their dander up. We cannot be on high alert all the time, so that tap on the shoulder, clearing of the throat, or saying our name gives us a chance to prepare to listen. Another thing you should know, and be able to explain is: It often takes a person with hearing loss up to 5 seconds to respond to a simple question or statement. Our brains take a bit more time to digest what we're hearing when we have to guess at some of it. This has nothing to do with cognition or intellect. It's a norm to be spontaneous. We are not within that 'norm' as hard of hearing people. Our brains work overtime to hear.