How to Hear at a Home Showing
or Mortgage Closing When You’re Hard of Hearing

Buying or selling a home puts you in many conversations in a short time, and almost all of them involve money. There is the open house with a crowd in the kitchen, the agent who talks while walking down a hall, the lender who calls to confirm a detail, the inspector who points at something in the attic and the closing table with a stack of papers and a cheerful voice that says "just initial here." If you are hard of hearing, every one of those is a place to miss a word that matters.

This guide covers why these conversations are hard to hear, how to arrange each step in writing, how to use the time before closing, how the ADA applies, and where a hard of hearing app fits and where it does not.

Why house hunting is a hard room to hear in

• People talk while moving. Agents walk ahead and talk over a shoulder, which leaves you with sentences and no face to read.
• Empty rooms echo. Hard floors, bare walls and high ceilings blur speech, even when the person is close.
• Open houses are crowded. Several groups, a host and a loud kitchen all talk at once.
• The phone is the default. Lenders, agents and title offices often call, and a call is the hardest way to catch an address, a date or a dollar figure.
• The numbers sound alike. Rates, dates, deadlines and fees all blur when spoken, and one wrong digit changes a decision.

The U.S. National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders reports that approximately 15 percent of American adults, about 37.5 million people, report some trouble hearing. Many of the buyers at any open house are working harder than they show. You can read the figure on the NIDCD quick statistics page.

Set the ground rules with your agent on day one

The easiest fix is the first conversation. Tell your agent plainly: "I am hard of hearing. Please send details by email or text, tell me about showings in writing, and stop and face me when you explain something." A good agent will be glad to, because a buyer who understands every step is a buyer who closes. Ask for a written summary after each showing, with the address, the price, the points you discussed and the next step.

Send the same note to your lender, your inspector and the title or escrow office. Many of them can work almost entirely by email, and the ones who cannot will tell you so early. Our guide to hearing on the phone when you are hard of hearing covers captioned calls and the text options on your phone.

At the showing

Showings are where walking and talking cause trouble. Ask your agent to talk at the start of each room, not while moving between rooms, and to stop at the doorway so you can see their face. Take your time in each space and look around before you ask a question. If the house is crowded, return later or ask for a private showing, which often means one quiet conversation instead of five at once.

Bring a small notebook or use the notes on your phone. Write down the questions you want answered at every house and ask the agent to write the answers beside them. A list reduces how much you have to catch by ear and keeps you from agreeing to a second showing because you missed a detail.

On the phone with the lender

Mortgage conversations are full of figures, and the phone is the weakest channel for them. Ask your loan officer to confirm every rate, fee and deadline by email, and ask for anything important to be written out. If you must take a call, use a captioning option or put the call on speaker next to a captions app, then ask for a written recap. The goal is not to avoid the phone entirely. It is to make sure nothing important lives only in a spoken sentence.

Use the three business days before closing

This is the most useful fact in the process for a hard of hearing buyer. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau says lenders are required to provide your Closing Disclosure three business days before your scheduled closing, and it describes those days as the time to resolve problems. Its advice is to check that your closing costs and your cash to close match your most recent Loan Estimate, and if something looks different from what you expected, to ask why. You can read the guidance on the CFPB Closing Disclosure page.

For you, that means the document with the figures arrives on paper days before anyone reads them aloud. Go through it at your own pace and circle every number that surprised you. Send your questions by email and ask for written answers. By the time you reach the closing table, you should already know the loan amount, the interest rate, the monthly payment and the cash you need to bring, and the table becomes a confirmation instead of a first hearing.

At the closing table

The closing is usually a short meeting with a lot of paper. The person guiding you may move quickly, and the room may include your agent, a closing officer and possibly the sellers. These habits help.

• Ask to sit across from the closer. You need to see their face, and you need the light on it.
• Ask them to point. "Please point to the line you are reading." It slows the pace without any fuss.
• Read before you sign. It is reasonable to say you need a minute to read each page.
• Ask for a written summary. A one-page list of what was signed and what happens next is a normal request.
• Bring a second set of ears. A trusted person can take notes. Choose someone you want involved, and tell the closer they are helping you.
• Compare to the earlier numbers. If anything differs from the disclosure you read, say so and ask why before you sign.

What the ADA says about asking

The ADA gives you a basis to ask. Its effective communication guidance says that businesses and nonprofit organizations that serve the public must provide aids and services when needed to communicate effectively with people who have communication disabilities, and it lists written materials, real-time captioning and assistive listening systems among them. It says the key is the nature, length, complexity and context of the communication, and that walk-in requests must be honored to the extent possible. You can read it on the ADA effective communication page. Whether a given business is covered is a legal question, so treat this as a basis for a polite request, not a guarantee, and speak with an advisor if you meet resistance.

A deaf app or HoH app for the quiet moments

A good hard of hearing app earns its place in close, quiet, unscripted conversation. RoomTalk is built for exactly that: it turns the voices near you into big captions that stay on the screen, fully offline, with no account and nothing uploaded. During a home search it suits the walkthrough in an empty room, the car ride between showings, the sit-down with your agent and the questions at the closing table. Our guide to hearing in the car covers the ride between houses, and the checklist for choosing a deaf and hard of hearing app shows what to look for.

If you are buying or selling with someone who speaks another language, there is also an offline Spanish translator that works the same way, by reading and not by hearing. And if you run a small business that serves buyers and sellers, read about Ai for small business for a look at how owners keep up with their phones.

What an app does not do

Here is the honest part.

It does not replace the paperwork. A caption helps you follow a conversation. It does not turn a spoken number into a signed agreement. Every figure that matters should be on a page you can read.

It may get names and numbers wrong. Street names, legal terms and figures can be misheard. Confirm them in writing.

Noise still matters. An open house with many voices is hard for any listening tool. Move to a quiet room and hold the phone near the speaker.

It is not legal or financial advice. It shows you what was said. It does not tell you whether a deal is a good one.

It does not make anyone slow down. You still have to ask, and the habits above do more than any app.

It is not for use while driving. Captions are for when you are parked and talking, never for the road.

After the keys

Keep a folder of everything: the emails, the summaries, the disclosure and the signed pages. If you did most of the process in writing, you have a clear record and a calmer move. Next time a service person or a neighbor stops by to talk, you will know the same habits work there too: face to face, in good light, with a pen or a phone in hand. If you want to read more before you buy an app, start with our roundup of the best apps for deaf and hard of hearing people.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I ask a real estate agent or lender to communicate with me in writing?

Yes, and it is a reasonable thing to ask. The ADA's effective communication guidance says that businesses and nonprofit organizations that serve the public must communicate effectively with people who have communication disabilities, and it lists written materials, real-time captioning and assistive listening systems among the aids for people who are deaf or hard of hearing. It also says the right choice depends on the nature, length, complexity and context of the communication. A home purchase is long and complex, so ask early for email and text, written summaries and a printed copy of every figure. Whether a particular business is covered is a legal question, so ask for what you need and consult an advisor if you hit resistance.

How much time do I have to read my mortgage closing paperwork?

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau says lenders are required to provide your Closing Disclosure three business days before your scheduled closing, and that those days are the time to resolve problems. It tells you to check that the closing costs and the cash to close match your most recent Loan Estimate, and to ask your lender to explain anything that looks different. For a hard of hearing buyer, that means you can read every number on paper at home before anyone says them aloud at the table.

Will a captions app work at a home showing or the closing table?

It works best in the quiet, close conversations: the walkthrough in an empty room, the sit-down with your agent and the questions at the table. A hard of hearing app shows what the people near you say as big text that stays on the screen, fully offline. It does not replace the paperwork, and it will not catch every name, address or figure correctly, so confirm numbers and legal terms in writing. In a loud open house with many people talking at once, step into a quiet room first.

What should I do if I miss something at the closing table?

Say so, and ask for it in writing. It is normal to ask someone to point to the line on the page while they explain it, and to take a minute to read before you sign. If a figure does not match what you expected, the CFPB's advice is to ask why. You can ask for a short break, ask for a written summary of anything said aloud, and bring a trusted person to take notes. Do not sign something you did not understand because the conversation moved on.