Recipient gaze and the resolution of overlapping talk in hearing impaired interaction

Abstract

This paper presents findings from a larger conversation analysis study of interactional management by adults with severe or profound acquired hearing impairment and their experienced communication partners. As in most interaction, overlapping talk occurs in interactions involving people with hearing impairment. However, both the initiation and the resolution of overlapping talk in these interactions may be determined by the availability (or non-availability) of the gaze and potential recipiency of the hearing-impaired co-participant. Experienced non-hearing-impaired interactional partners can be seen to drop quickly out of problematic overlap in the absence of their hearing impaired co-participant’s gaze. Only in the presence of co-participant gaze will these partners compete for the turn. Similarly, collaborative overlapping talk by these partners is initiated only in the presence of the co-participant’s gaze and potential recipiency. By responding in this way to the presence and absence of their hearing-impaired co-participants’ gaze, these partners maximise recipiency for their own talk and thereby minimise repairable problems of understanding, even if this means risking the loss of their own contributions.