It’s normal to find unfamiliar accents difficult to understand, even if your hearing is perfectly normal. Although you may be speaking the same language, different accents can have unique speech patterns, pronunciation and rhythm, so your brain has to work a lot harder to interpret what’s being said.

If you have hearing loss, this challenge becomes much greater. Hearing loss often affects the clarity of speech, rather than just the volume, and can make it difficult to understand high-pitched consonant sounds like s, f, th and t. These sounds help us tell words apart, so when they’re harder to hear, unfamiliar accents can become much more difficult to follow.

If you’ve recently travelled overseas, moved to New Zealand, or have family visiting from back home, and you’ve noticed that you’re struggling to understand what people are saying, it’s a good idea to see an audiologist to check if your hearing has changed. A hearing assessment can help identify whether hearing loss is contributing to the problem and what support may help you now and in the future.

You may also like to read our articles on why speech can be hard to follow and hearing people clearly in noisy environments, or browse our Hearing Health articles for more information.