Communication Burden

The disproportionate effort that people with communication-related disabilities must exert to participate in conversations, particularly in mixed-ability groups. In the context of Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH) individuals, communication burden refers to the repeated need to ask hearing speakers to slow down, speak louder, repeat themselves, or articulate more clearly—actions that can be exhausting, embarrassing, and socially costly. This imbalance reflects a broader pattern where the responsibility for accessible communication falls on the person with the disability rather than being shared by all participants or supported by technology. Shifting the communication burden toward hearing speakers and automated systems is an active area of accessibility research.