Communication experiences of deaf and hearing-impaired competitive swimmers and their coaches in South Africa.
Dhanashree Pillay, Caitlin Lewington
Deaf and hearing-impaired swimmers in South Africa relied mainly on lip reading and improvised signs to communicate with coaches, not Sign Language.
The biggest practical barriers were the absence of a visual race-start signal and the inability to use hearing aids in the water.
Key findings
1Lip reading was the most common communication strategy (7 of 11 participants), followed by individually improvised signs (6 of 11). Sign Language was underutilised in the swimming environment despite some swimmers having a personal signing system with their coach.
2The two most frequently reported barriers were the lack of a visual race-start signal (the only cue was an auditory shotgun) and the inability to use a hearing aid or cochlear implant while in the water.
3A positive coach-athlete relationship and team collaboration were the main facilitators of effective communication. Some swimmers reported feeling included when teammates or officials actively supported their communication, while others described feeling isolated in the pool.
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What it does not show
Eleven participants from a single country, recruited through one coach's network; the authors note that many D and HI swimmers had retired after the 2017 Deaflympics, so the pool was already very small. Data were collected by online questionnaire rather than interview, which the authors acknowledge limited their ability to probe responses. Purposive sampling from a niche community means the themes reflect a small, connected group and cannot be generalised to all D and HI swimmers or to other sports. The study is descriptive; it reports what these 11 people experienced but does not test whether any communication strategy is more effective than another.
Declared interests
The authors state the research received no specific grant from any public, commercial, or not-for-profit funding agency. No conflicts of interest are declared.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the positive coach-athlete relationships and team collaboration as evidence that the communication environment is adequate. The study found structural barriers (no visual race-start signal, no waterproof hearing aids, Sign Language underutilised) that a good relationship does not remove, and the sample was 11 people in one country, not a pattern.
Summarised by AI from the full paper, without a clinician reviewing it. Check it against the source before it changes what you do. Read it on PubMed →