Empathetic Communication Between Children with Normal Hearing and Deaf Parents: A Case Study in Yogyakarta

Empathetic Communication Between Children with Normal Hearing and Deaf Parents: A Case Study in Yogyakarta

Suciati, Ayu Farizqa Maharani Puspa, Atik Septi Winarsih

Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta

DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.47772/IJRISS.2025.907000004

Received: 21 June 2025; Accepted: 26 June 2025; Published: 26 July 2025      

ABSTRACT

This study aims to describe empathic communication that occurs between children with normal hearing and deaf parents in Yogyakarta. The research informants were three different family pairs consisting of children with normal hearing, namely MK, YY, and RF, who have deaf parents, namely IW, YN, and IM. This research method uses qualitative descriptive and in-depth interview data collection techniques. Secondary data were obtained from literature studies related to this study. The communication process is created when the communicator meets the requirements for empathic communication in terms of aspects, characteristics, and factors that influence empathic communication. The three informants can carry out empathic communication well in the context between normal-hearing children and deaf parents; however, obstacles still cannot be avoided. The obstacles that occur are that messages are not conveyed to deaf parents and vice versa, resulting in miscommunication due to limitations in delivery through sign language. There are also internal obstacles in the form of personal distress experienced by children. Personal distress is shown in negative emotional reactions such as anxiety or discomfort that arise when facing interpersonal pressure due to having deaf parents. This research opens up opportunities for the development of more targeted interventions to support families with similar characteristics, as well as providing new perspectives on resilience and adaptation in the context of communication limitations.

Keywords: Empathetic Communication, normal children, deaf parents, social learning, sign language.

INTRODUCTION

Communication will establish good relations to a certain point of intimacy. Communication is a fundamental element in forming and maintaining relationships between individuals, including in the context of family relationships. Emotional closeness, mutual understanding, and the formation of social identity are built in families through communication activities. This means that communication is not just an exchange of messages or information. However, in the context of communication that occurs between individuals with different language abilities and sensory perceptions, such as between children with normal hearing and deaf parents, the dynamics of communication become more complex and require an approach that is more than just linguistic. This means requiring the presence of empathetic communication.

In reality, humans are created in different physical, psychological, and social conditions. Not a few humans are born in conditions that have limited body functions or mental limitations. One of them is limited hearing function, or can be called deaf. Deaf is a term taken from the words “Tuna” and Tuli, Tuna means less while Tuli means hearing. This term is used to describe a condition where those whose hearing is not functioning so that they cannot hear and interfere with their daily lives (Winarsih, 2010).

Empathy in the context of communication is the ability to understand feelings and thoughts from another person’s perspective and respond to them in an emotionally and socially appropriate way. In the context of interactions between children with normal hearing and deaf parents, empathy plays an important role in building emotional connections, bridging differences in perception, and creating a supportive and inclusive atmosphere. Children who are able to develop empathetic communication with deaf parents demonstrate high social competence in understanding diversity while strengthening family ties psychologically (Bat-Chava, Martin, & Kosciw, 2005).

Several studies on communication between family members with different sensory abilities have been conducted by experts, especially in Western literature. However, these studies are still limited in the Indonesian context, especially those that highlight the perspective of children as the main communicators to deaf parents. Studies focus more on the role of parents in raising deaf children and inclusive education strategies. In fact, in some cases, it occurs in deaf couples who have children with normal hearing. Children often act as liaisons between deaf reality and hearing reality (Napier, Kidd, & Skinner, 2007). They act as natural interpreters in the family, and they face emotional and social pressures from an early age, while also bearing great responsibility in mediating daily communication.

In general, this phenomenon is known as language brokering in sociolinguistic studies, namely the informal role of children in bridging communication between parents and the wider community due to differences in language or sensory abilities (Orellana, 2009). From the perspective of deaf parents, their children function as interpreters of sign language into spoken language, as well as emotional and social mediators in the family and social environment. This function requires them to have high empathic abilities. They can translate words, as well as understand the emotional and social context of the communication that occurs.

Despite having hearing impairments, they can still communicate. They will divert their attention to the eyes when talking to the other person. Through the eyes, deaf people will understand spoken language. In addition, they will see the lip movements of the person who is speaking. However, not a few people with hearing impairments can understand or read from lip movements. Therefore, to communicate every day, they use sign language. Sign language is a non-verbal language because it uses symbols such as the shape and direction of the hands, hand movements, lips, and expressions to convey the purpose. In addition, sign language can show the identity of a deaf person. Sign language is a marker of the presence of deaf people in society (Gumelar et al, 2018).

Just like normal individuals, deaf people also have physical, social, and psychological needs that must be met. One of the phases of life that will be passed is building a household and having children. Parents have an important role in the duties and responsibilities of all family members, both in shaping habits, characters, and morals and in creating a harmonious family. This requires good communication between parents and children. Therefore, extra effort is needed for deaf parents to be able to communicate with their children who have normal hearing or vice versa. The existence of different conditions, namely, one condition can hear and the other condition cannot hear, will be prone to causing conflict in the family. Therefore, to minimize the occurrence of communication failures that can lead to blaming and judging each other. One solution to this problem is to develop empathetic communication between parents and their children.

Empathetic communication needs to be instilled in children from an early age by their parents. The presence of empathetic communication will foster awareness of mutual understanding of feelings and the emergence of a sense of care and attention. Without empathy, it will be difficult for someone to know what others are experiencing without entering and understanding the feelings and conditions being experienced. Empathetic communication also encourages someone to identify other people’s personalities more deeply and be able to understand the positive and negative feelings that occur in others as if the emotions were experienced by themselves. However, in this modern era, empathy is difficult to find. Empathy is only felt without the help of real action. In practice, this is difficult to do because humans who grow up in the modern era have been constrained by their respective egos, including in families with blind members (Kusasi, 2014).

The case of a baby found on the side of the road in the Teluknaga area, Tangerang, Banten, is still alive. The baby was found in good health, and all of his organs were functioning well, except for an abnormality in the mouth (liputan6.com, 2020). Likewise, cases of kidnapping of parents by their children are increasingly rampant in China. Generally, it is caused by children not wanting to take care of their elderly parents. As experienced by Zhang, an 80-year-old man from Shantou, Guangdong Province, China. Zhang was not treated well by his children, and they tended to neglect him (grid.id, 2020).

Singleton and Tittle (2000) conducted a study with the results that children of deaf parents tend to have higher empathetic communication skills and social sensitivity than children from normal families. They have sensitivity to non-verbal expressions, understand context, and build inclusive communication. However, on the other hand, they also experience high stress and psychological conflict if not supported by a supportive environment.

In the context of Indonesian culture, especially in Yogyakarta, which is known as a city with a high level of social awareness and inclusion, studies on empathic communication between children with normal hearing and deaf parents are very relevant and still rarely conducted. Yogyakarta has a fairly active deaf community, as well as educational and social institutions that support the development of children in deaf families. There have not been many studies that explore either a qualitative or quantitative approach to the dynamics of empathic communication formed and experienced by children in blind families and how the local cultural context influences their communication patterns.

This study is important because it provides a more comprehensive understanding of how empathy is key in bridging sensory differences in families, as well as how children form their communicative identities amidst two worlds: the deaf world and the hearing world. This study is also expected to contribute to the development of inclusive family education policies, empathetic communication training, and strengthening the role of children in families with high social sensitivity.

The purpose of this study is to examine in depth the forms and processes of empathic communication that are established between children with normal hearing and deaf parents in Yogyakarta. This study also aims to identify factors that support or inhibit the occurrence of empathic communication in families, as well as explore the role of children as a communication bridge in the context of families with differences in sensory abilities.

With a case study approach in Yogyakarta, this study is expected to provide a contextual picture rich in inclusivism. The picture of the reality of everyday communication in the family encourages a more humane understanding of diversity in family relations. In addition, the results of the study are expected to provide an initial foundation for the development of empathetic communication interventions in families with sensory-disabled members in Indonesia.

Providing an understanding to children about their limitations is the responsibility of parents and is a challenge for deaf parents in preparing children to enter the social environment. Given that not all environments accept the conditions of people with physical limitations, there are still many cases of discrimination against people with disabilities. Based on the background of the problem above, the research question can be formulated as “How is empathetic communication in children with normal hearing with deaf parents in Yogyakarta?”

LITERATURE REVIEW

Interpersonal Communication

According to Effendi (in Hanani, 2017), interpersonal communication, or what can be called dyadic communication, is communication that occurs between two people that occurs in the form of a conversation. Conversations can be carried out in two ways, namely if it can be done directly face to face or face to face, but can be done with the presence of a medium, such as via telephone, which has a two-way or reciprocal nature (two-way traffic communication). According to Richard L. Weaver II (in Budyatna, 2012), interpersonal communication has eight characteristics, including:

• Involves at least two people
• Any feedback or input
• Doesn’t have to meet in person
• Does not have to be purposeful
• Produce an influence or effect
• Does not have to involve or use words
• Influenced by context
• Affected by noise

In addition, interpersonal communication has six purposes, namely: knowing oneself and others, knowing the outside world, creating and maintaining relationships, changing attitudes and behaviors, playing and seeking entertainment, and helping others (Suranto, 2011). Some aspects that can influence interpersonal communication include openness, empathy, support, positivity, and equality.

Interpersonal communication is not only about exchanging information but also reflects emotional relationships and interpersonal understanding. One of the crucial elements in building and maintaining healthy interpersonal communication is empathy. In this context, empathetic communication is the basis for creating relationships of mutual understanding, support, and respect for each other.

Empathetic Communication

Empathetic communication is a form of interpersonal communication that emphasizes the ability to put oneself in another person’s shoes, feel their emotions, and respond appropriately with attention. It involves two main aspects:

• Cognitive empathy: the ability to understand another person’s point of view and thinking.
• Emotional empathy: the ability to feel the emotions that another person is experiencing.

In empathetic communication, individuals not only understand the literal meaning of the message delivered but also capture the emotional and contextual meaning. Thus, empathetic communication deepens interpersonal relationships and helps create a sense of security for communication participants.

Carl Rogers, a humanistic psychologist, was a major figure in the development of empathic communication theory. Rogers’ writing entitled “The Necessary and Sufficient Conditions of Therapeutic Personality Change” (1957) mentions empathy as one of three important conditions in realizing effective interpersonal relationships, along with congruence and unconditional acceptance. According to Rogers, empathy is the ability to “feel the internal world of another person as if you were that person, but without losing your perspective.” Thus, a person does not get lost in the emotions of the other person but understands and acknowledges those emotions sincerely.

Rogers emphasized several important aspects of empathy in the context of interpersonal communication, including:

• Listen attentively, without interruption or judgment.
• Reflecting on the other person’s feelings to show understanding.
• Building relationships based on trust and honesty.

In its implementation, Rogers’ Theory is widely applied in the world of counseling, education, and interpersonal relationships where trust and openness are important foundations.

Joseph A. DeVito, in his writing The Interpersonal Communication Book (2015), reveals empathic communication as the core of effective interpersonal communication. According to DeVito, empathic communication consists of three main dimensions:

• Cognitive Empathy: The individual understands the thoughts and intentions of the partner.
• Emotional Empathy: Individuals feel what others feel.
• Behavioral Empathy: The individual demonstrates this understanding through appropriate behavior, such as nonverbal cues, such as facial expressions, tone of voice, and body language.

De Vito also explains that empathy is not only innate but can be developed through practicing self-awareness, active listening skills, and developing openness to others. The role of empathetic communication in interpersonal communication practice, empathy helps, among other things:

• Increase emotional closeness in relationships.
• Anticipate and resolve conflicts effectively.
• Creating a supportive communication climate.

In relationships between couples, friendships, relatives, or coworkers, empathetic communication strengthens mutual respect and reduces the possibility of miscommunication and conflict. A person can be said to have empathy if he or she meets the characteristics of empathy. According to T. Safari (2018), the characteristics of empathy include being able to feel what others are feeling, being built on self-awareness and having a willingness to be sensitive to other people’s feelings, being sensitive to non-verbal language, being able to take part in a problem being faced and not being lost/staying in control of one’s emotions.

The stages and components of empathetic communication include:

• Active Listening: This activity is not only about hearing the message but also about capturing the emotional meaning of the message.
• Emotion Recognition: The attempt to identify the feelings that the person you are talking to is experiencing.
• Perspective Taking: trying to see the situation from another person’s perspective.
• Empathetic Response: giving feedback that reflects understanding, such as “I can understand why you feel that way.”

Empathetic communication is strongly supported by the role of verbal and nonverbal components. Both are equally important in the effectiveness of empathetic communication. A soft tone of voice, eye contact, a slight nod, a smile, or a caring silence can strengthen the impression of empathy in communication.

Several studies have shown that individuals with high levels of empathy are more likely to be liked, trusted, and considered supportive in their interpersonal relationships. Empathetic communication theory provides detailed guidance on how humans can interact more humanely in the context of interpersonal communication. Empathy can be a bridge that connects two individuals in a relationship of mutual understanding. In an increasingly innovative world, the practice of empathetic communication is increasingly needed as an antidote to social isolation, conflict, and miscommunication. Therefore, building empathy is not only important for self-development but also as a contribution to the quality of healthier and more civilized social interactions.

According to Hoffman (in Suciati, 2017), the development of empathy is divided into three levels during individual development, including:

• At the age of one year, children can already feel pain when they see other children fall and cry.
• At the age of two, children begin to understand that other people’s feelings are different from their own, making them more sensitive to conditions that express other people’s feelings.
• At the age of 10 to 12 years, each individual will form attitudes towards other people who experience less good or less fortunate conditions, such as the poor, the disabled, and so on.

Several factors influence the level of empathy. According to Hoffman (in Goleman, 2015), these factors include: socialization, mood and feelings, learning and identification processes, situations or places, communication and language, and parenting patterns. The empathy process, according to Davis (in Taufik, 2012) is divided into four stages, namely, first, antecedents, namely the conditions that precede the empathy process. Second, the process is divided into non-cognitive processes, simple cognitive processes, and advanced cognitive processes. Third, intrapersonal outcomes are divided into affective outcomes and non-affective outcomes.

RESEARCH METHODS

This study uses a qualitative descriptive research design. According to Bogdan and Taylor (in Moleong, 2018), qualitative research is a research procedure that produces descriptive data in the form of written and spoken words from people and observable behavior. Interviews are conducted as a data collection technique. According to Dexter (in Ahmadi, 2016), interviews are conversations that have a purpose. The purpose in question is to obtain information in the form of people, events, activities, organizations, feelings, motivations, concerns, and so on. Informants were obtained using accidental sampling techniques with characteristics such as pairs of deaf parents with children with normal hearing. The use of initials on child and parent informants aims to maintain confidentiality in the general public. The researcher’s closeness to the informant’s family and the researcher’s ability to use sign language greatly assist in the accuracy of data collection, especially when interviewing deaf parents. Three pairs of informants were recorded as shown in Table 1 below:

Table I: Names of Informants Studied

Description of Research Informants

First Pair (Im-Mk)

IM is a deaf father who has one child, MK, who is 13 years old. The cause of IM’s deafness is a high fever due to meningitis when he was 3 years old, which caused damage to the auditory nerve. Although deaf IM was able to complete his education up to high school level. With all his limitations, he worked as a carpenter/furniture worker. MK is an only child who is in the 8th grade of junior high school. The family’s everyday language includes Indonesian Sign Language (BISINDO) and written code on paper or mobile phones. The communication barriers that often occur include difficulty understanding the child’s complex emotional needs and frustration when unable to express feelings with signs. Social barriers often arise when a child feels embarrassed by their father’s condition in front of friends.

Second Pair (Yn-Yy)

YN is a 38-year-old blind housewife. The cause of deafness, was born with a genetic disorder (congenital sensorineural hearing loss). YN is a high school graduate in Yogyakarta. YN is also busy with opening a catering business from home in Sleman, Yogyakarta. YY is YN’s eldest, who is 13 years old, now in the 8th grade of junior high school. The daily language they use is Indonesian Sign Language (BISINDO) and lip reading. In special conditions, D uses video call signs for long-distance communication. Communication barriers that YY has experienced are that her parents cannot hear when she comes home late or there is an emergency.

Third Pair (Iw And Rf)

Informant IW (Mother) is 41 years old and has been deaf since she had a motorcycle accident at the age of 25, which caused head trauma and bilateral hearing loss. She is a vocational high school graduate who is now busy working at a grocery store in front of her house. Meanwhile, RF is the second of three siblings born to IW. She is in the 6th grade of elementary school. The languages used daily are Indonesian Sign Language (BISINDO) and Indonesian Sign Language System (SIBI). RF can already teach her friends basic signs, so she is quite proud of her bilingual ability. As for the obstacles faced by the IE-RF family, RF is sometimes impatient when she is not yet fully fluent in signing, and RF is overly worried about her mother and is often overprotective.

RESULT AND DISCUSSION

Empathetic communication is a key aspect of interpersonal relationships that involves feeling, understanding, and responding to the emotions and experiences of others. In the context of families with deaf members, empathic communication becomes more complex because it involves differences in linguistic abilities and access to verbal and nonverbal symbols. Children of deaf parents (CODA) often serve as a bridge between the world of their parents and the social world of the hearing majority. This role requires high levels of empathic skills to create effective communication.

Aspects of Empathetic Communication

The discussion of empathetic communication in this study will begin by looking at the influential aspects, including:

Cognitive Aspect

Contemporary theorists state that the cognitive component of empathy consists of components that can lead to an understanding of other people’s feelings (Taufik, 2012). This component is shown when informants MK, YY, and RF can understand the conditions experienced by deaf parents through their facial expressions, whether they are happy, disappointed, surprised, or sad. MK once said, “When my father is angry, his face turns red and he doesn’t want to talk.” YY understands her mother when she is disappointed: “Mother always takes a few deep breaths when she is disappointed.” When RF saw her mother with her hands on her hips, he muttered: “Mother wants me to carry out her orders immediately.”This occurs as an application in deaf learning. People with hearing impairments can convey thoughts or feelings with non-verbal language, one of which is an emphasis on facial expressions or facial expressions. Through facial expressions, the desires and moods of the interlocutor can be understood as seen in the three child informants (Pinasti et al, 2017).

On the other hand, the three child informants have favorite characters, such as MK likes Nobita, YY likes Doraemon, and RF likes Upin-Ipin. However, it is not just a favorite character; the behavior of the character is imitated in their daily lives. The three informants can understand and like the behavior of their favorite characters. All actions of the three informants are a social learning process starting from observing, being interested, to imitating. According to Bandura, the form of social learning is the ability of each individual to capture and manage information or knowledge that comes from observing models in the surrounding environment (Lesilolo, 2018).

One reason for blind people to have favorite characters is that favorite characters can be a source of inspiration and emotional motivation, which helps them form self-identity and imagine positive future possibilities. According to Sacks’ research (2003), individuals who are blind from birth or who experience blindness later can still form mental images and emotional attachments to characters they know through non-verbal cues such as voice, narration, or other sensory experiences. These favorite characters will provide psychologically meaningful role models.

The Assertive Aspect of Caring

The aspect of empathetic concern is a feeling of sympathy and concern for others, both directly and indirectly, in feeling the suffering of others (Taufik, 2012). The data shows that the three informants have different feelings of sympathy for deaf parents. Informants IW and RF act as intermediaries to change messages into sign language, while YY helps with the work that YN brings home. In an interview excerpt, IW said: “Sometimes I have to translate the verbal language of new people into sign language so that my father understands.” Likewise, RF has to intervene when his mother does not respond to the person he is talking to: “I know that if my mother is silent, it means she does not understand the language of the person she is talking to, so I immediately translate it.” Meanwhile, YY, without being asked, always helps clean the dirty pans used for catering food.

The meaning of the aspect of firm concern in empathic communication is shown by the ability to give sincere attention to the feelings and needs of others while still conveying in a clear, direct, and unambiguous manner. This concern is gentle or passive and contains the courage to convey empathy openly and responsibly, without losing sensitivity to the emotional condition of the interlocutor. A person can be said to be empathetic if he or she fulfills the characteristics of empathy, one of which is being able to take a role in solving problems. The three informants were able to sympathize in different ways. According to Ickes (1997), there is a balance between emotional sensitivity and firm expression in achieving effective empathic communication. This means that empathy is not just feeling, but also expressing concern in a way that can be understood and has a positive impact on interpersonal relationships.

Personal Difficulty Aspects

The personal distress aspect focuses on personal anxiety and anxiety felt by others as a result of reactions to unpleasant interpersonal situations or suffering (Murti et al, 2020). MK never felt anxious or uncomfortable, even though he had deaf parents. However, YY and RF, who had experienced unpleasant feelings, were indifferent and chose to remain silent. In an interview excerpt, MK said sincerely, “I accept my father’s shortcomings sincerely and do not want to complain at all because it is a destiny that must be faced with an open heart.” Thus, MK tried not to get angry even though it was difficult to care for his mother. The emergence of personal distress in blind people due to limitations in visual perception, thus strengthening feelings of helplessness and anxiety when facing stressful interpersonal situations or the suffering of others. This reaction tends to occur in the individual’s internal anxiety rather than in the emotional understanding of others.

According to Davis (1983), personal distress is defined as an affective response that is egoistic, characterized by fear, discomfort, and anxiety when witnessing the suffering of others, which encourages someone to reduce personal discomfort rather than help. In deaf individuals, sensory limitations can exacerbate negative interpretations of social situations, resulting in increased anxiety responses.

Factors that influence empathetic communication Informants

Several factors that influenced the three child informants included socialization, mood, learning process, situation and place, language, and child-rearing patterns:

Socialization

Brown (2011) revealed that socialization in different families can increase intercultural empathy, which is the ability to understand perspectives that come from different cultural or communication groups. Of course, CODA children often become communication intermediaries for their parents, and this process forms more adaptive empathic abilities. Effective socialization can build empathetic understanding between deaf parents and normal children. On the one hand, children will learn to understand the perspective of parents who have hearing impairments, while parents will develop sensitivity to the communication needs of children who can hear. In addition to taking time, this process requires patience and commitment from both parties to understand and adapt to each other. If socialization has gone well, empathetic communication can be built on each party. They not only communicate effectively but also understand and feel the communication experience from different perspectives. This is an important foundation for creating harmonious and mutually supportive relationships in families with this special condition (Salam and Jannah, 2023).

Mood and feelings

Emotional state or mood affects a person’s level of empathy. When the informant is in a good mood, they tend to be more patient in translating messages or explaining something to their parents. However, when in a bad mood, empathic ability can decrease. This is by the Affective Empathy theory (Eisenberg et al., 2006), that one’s own emotions can strengthen or inhibit the ability to understand other people’s emotions.

Mood and feelings in empathic communication are a person’s response to others, depending on the emotional situation they are experiencing. If someone is in a good situation, then they will interact and deal with other people’s situations well (Alfiah et al, 2020). In interviews with the three informants, they gave responses that tended to be positive, namely, not feeling ashamed and worried because they had deaf parents, even though miscommunication often occurred in everyday life. All three responded to their parents’ condition with a positive mood and feelings, namely the formation of perceptions towards positive things and trying to eliminate negative perceptions (Diana, 2015). Frustration can occur because you have to explain something to your parents repeatedly, or find it difficult. After all, you don’t get the expected response directly. As a result, empathy that should appear in the form of understanding and patience is replaced by a defensive attitude or emotional rejection. This shows that a bad mood has the potential to be an obstacle in the empathic communication process.

Other deep feelings may arise in a long-term relationship with a deaf parent. Positive feelings such as pride, affection, or admiration for a parent can strengthen a child’s motivation to understand and appreciate the parent’s way of communicating. Children with strong emotional attachments tend to be more sensitive to their parents’ emotional needs and strive to build inclusive communication. However, negative feelings such as disappointment and shame because of their parents’ condition can also arise, especially in adolescence. These feelings can create emotional distance, where the child is reluctant to show empathy because he feels misunderstood or burdened by the responsibility of communication.

Hoffman (2000) revealed that a person’s empathic ability is influenced by the emotional context and past affective experiences, including mood and dynamics of family relationships. In the context of a deaf-parent family, the child’s emotional experience is very complex because he or she must navigate between the majority communication norm (verbal) and the minority communication norm (visual/gesture). This is what makes mood and feelings important variables that influence the formation of empathy, maintenance, and expressing it in everyday communication.

Learning and identification process

According to Hoffman (in Pamungkas et al, 2019), the learning and identification process in empathetic communication is in the form of behavior, one of which arises from home, namely imitating the behavior of parents. The three informants implemented empathetic communication by seeing, imitating, and remembering what their parents said. Indirectly, parents have taught character education to their children. MK, who is always patient, teaches YY to do things on time by YN, and WT teaches RF not to take revenge easily. Character education is education that teaches about character, personality, morals, and attitudes so that the desired individual can be formed (Hadisi, 2015).

When children feel emotionally connected and are able to recognize their parents’ experience as part of their lives, empathic communication will form more naturally and deeply. Bandura (1977) states that social learning occurs through observation, imitation, and identification with close social models, such as parents. Children learn not only how to communicate, but also how to feel and respond empathetically, by imitating the attitudes and emotional expressions of their parents, even though they are sensorially different. This strengthens the affective relationship and allows for empathic communication to occur.

The three informants acquired their sign language skills not through formal channels, but from a learning process with their parents from an early age. This is a form of learning by doing, which is also colored by the process of self-identification with parents. Bandura (1986) stated that social identification is part of social learning that makes individuals imitate significant behavior from people who have emotional closeness, such as parents. The informants have dual identities, on the one hand as children from the deaf community, and on the other hand as individuals from the hearing world. This balance will create adaptive and dynamic empathic abilities.

Situation or place

According to Hoffman (in Goleman 2015), the situation or place in empathic communication is the most important thing to determine whether someone can do empathy better than others. The child informant explained how he could feel empathy for his parents based on the situation or place. For example, MK saw firsthand how IW had difficulty understanding what other people meant. YY listened to a story about YN who had problems at work, and RF saw how difficult it was for WT to understand the contents of the news.

The concept of situational empathy states that empathy is not always present consistently, but rather depends on a particular context. Informants tend to show empathy when in public spaces or formal situations, where parents experience more obstacles. The role of the informant automatically acts as an interpreter and emotional supporter. This shows that context influences the intensity of empathetic communication.

Based on the interview results, the three informants could feel altruism towards their parents. According to Batson Febriansyah et.al (2018), altruism itself is a motivation to help because of having seen other people’s difficulties. According to Batson (1991), true altruism arises when someone truly understands the condition of others and is motivated to help for the good of that person, and not for personal gain. In the context of normal children who empathize with the emotional needs of their parents, they carry out communicative actions that are full of love and sacrifice, which strengthen emotional bonds and form the basis of healthy family relationships.

Communication and Language

Hoffman said that communication and language can prove how empathetic communication works: if the language delivery is good, then it will form good empathy and vice versa (Goleman, 2015). Communication between child informants and parents occurs in two different language systems: spoken language (verbal) and sign language (visual). When the language used is not fully understood by one party, there is the potential for miscommunication. However, through empathic skills, informants can adjust their form of communication so that it can be better understood by parents. In a face-to-face interaction, there is face-work or an effort to maintain the honor of the other person. In this case, the use of sign language by children is part of face support for deaf parents so that they do not feel alienated in social interactions (Goffman, 1981).

MK and YY can use BISINDO (Indonesian Sign Language) and SIBI (Indonesian Sign Language System), but for daily life, they tend to use BISINDO, while RF can only use BISINDO. The three informants have learned sign language since childhood using media. The effectiveness of BISINDO is seen in facilitating direct involvement and intimacy in daily interactions. Children who learn BISINDO from an early age will show high adaptive abilities and better empathy for their parents’ conditions. This strengthens family relationships and forms equal and mutually respectful communication. Kusters, Spotti, Swanwick, and Tapio (2017), stated that sign languages such as BISINDO play an important role in creating an inclusive communication space in families with deaf members. When children with normal hearing learn sign language, they build stronger and more empathetic relationships reciprocally.

Parenting in empathetic communication

In raising children, deaf parents need cooperation in communication. This creates a parenting pattern that tends to be authoritative in terms of warmth, but at the same time demands the child’s active involvement in supporting communication. In line with Baumrind (1991), responsive and communicative parenting contributes to the development of children’s empathy. In fostering empathy in children, support is needed from the surrounding environment, both from parents, teachers, and schools. According to Hoffman (in Goleman, 2015), fostering empathy is influenced by parenting patterns. Parenting patterns can help foster empathy in children if the family and school environment upholds empathy. Based on interviews, the three informants were in an environment that strongly supports empathy. The growth of this empathy is supported by the role of deaf parents in shaping the character of the child.

The MK and YY families use the lecture method to teach empathy. The lecture method itself is a method of teaching or delivering material through narratives and verbal applications, both formal and informal, to share information and apply it, and can be useful in the future (Ulfah et al, 2019). Meanwhile, the RF family introduces empathy through the storytelling method, which is a method that has meaning for child development because it provides learning experiences for children to practice speaking and listening to exchange experiences (Ulfah et al, 2019). In addition to these two methods, sometimes the three of apply the habituation method for empathy in everyday life. The habituation method itself is an activity carried out by a person regularly and continuously to train children to have certain habits that are useful for the development of the child’s personality (Ulfah et al, 2019).

The three informants in this study demonstrated high empathic abilities by taking the initiative to translate messages into sign language when their parents experienced obstacles. This reflects behavioral empathy or empathy expressed in real actions, not just internal understanding (DeVito, 2015). They not only feel what their parents feel but also act to facilitate communication so that it continues to run in two directions. The data shows that their empathic communication is quite strong. Child informants demonstrate adaptive mechanisms through positive attribution, namely, they do not blame deaf parents if there is miscommunication, but rather understand these limitations as part of the conditions that must be accepted. Weiner (1985) in Attribution Theory stated that giving positive attributions to communication obstacles will result in healthier emotional and behavioral reactions, such as patience, affection, and a desire to improve communication methods. In addition to positive affirmations, child informants also use facial expressions and body language to clarify their intentions.

Empathy also serves a dual function, namely as a communication tool and a conflict resolution tool. When a child’s message fails to get through and potential frustration arises, they empathize by choosing to lower expectations and change communication strategies to better suit the parent’s abilities. This is called compensatory empathy, which is the ability to compensate for deficiencies in communication with deeper empathetic strategies (Zaki, 2014). In a field study of informants MK, YY, and RF, it was found that all three showed various dimensions of empathy in their interactions with deaf parents. Starting from the ability to understand parents’ emotions through facial expressions, to real actions such as being a translator or helping with housework, indicating strong emotional and social involvement.

The results of the discussion above can be simplified in the form of an empathetic communication model between deaf parents and normal children:

Figure 1: Empathic Communication between Normal Children and Deaf Parents

Empathetic communication between children with normal hearing and deaf parents is a unique and complex form of interpersonal relationship. The parents’ limitations in communicating verbally require the child to develop alternative forms of communication that are empathetic and adaptive. The research model depicted in the previous visualization is a synthesis of various psychological and sociological aspects involved in the formation of empathic communication. This model consists of seven main components: socialization, social learning, understanding emotions (cognitive aspect), empathic concern, personal distress, real empathic actions, and effective empathic communication.

Socialization as an effort to understand

Based on the research findings, the three informants showed a good ability to feel various emotions. However, one of the emotions that most often emerged and was identified was the emotion of anger. The emergence of this emotion of anger has specific roots in the context of family communication. The emotion of anger that is often experienced by children with deaf parents is mainly triggered by failure in conveying messages or communication. This communication barrier occurs due to limitations in the mastery of sign language and the limited Indonesian vocabulary understood by deaf parents. This situation creates communicative frustration, which then manifests in the form of angry emotions.

The limitations of sign language possessed by children or parents can cause problems of misunderstanding or inability to convey ideas, needs, or feelings appropriately. On the other hand, the limited vocabulary of Indonesian mastered by deaf parents also limits communication alternatives that can be used in family interactions. This condition reflects the complexity of communication challenges faced in families with deaf parents. Frustration due to experiencing difficulties in communicating, such as being in a noisy environment or not understanding what other people mean, often makes deaf children become deaf children have hearing impairments. deaf individuals have speech impairments, so they are usually called mute (Wulandari and Prihantanti, 2018).

Social Learning as the Foundation of Empathy

In this model, social learning is placed as the second stage that still plays a role. This process refers to Albert Bandura’s social learning theory, which states that individuals learn through observation and imitation of models in their environment (Bandura, 1977). Child informants who grew up with deaf parents were shown to be able to adopt empathetic behavior from models they admired, such as cartoon characters (Nobita, Doraemon, and Upin-Ipin). These characters, indirectly, act as value guidelines that provide a behavioral framework for how to respond to others with attention and care.

Their favorite characters strengthen the argument that the process of identification with models influences the formation of empathy for the condition of parents. For example, Nobita’s actions that often help his friends in difficult conditions can encourage children to do the same thing to their parents. This also shows that the social learning process is not limited to the immediate environment, but also through media and symbols.

Cognitive Aspect: Understanding Facial Expressions

The cognitive aspect of empathy, explained by Taufik (2012), is a person’s ability to understand other people’s feelings through the interpretation of nonverbal signals, such as facial expressions and gestures. In this context, children with deaf parents show extraordinary abilities in reading emotions from facial expressions because they are used to interacting in nonverbal ways. This finding is supported by the study of Pinasti et al. (2017), which states that facial expressions are the main medium of communication for deaf people. Children who grow up in this environment automatically develop sensitivity to nonverbal expressions, which are the basis of cognitive abilities in empathy. However, face reading skills are not only natural abilities but the result of a communication environment that is formed early on and supported by daily experiences.

Empathic Concern: Internalized Concern

The following component in the model is an empathic concern. According to Taufik (2012), this is the affective component of empathy that drives individuals to feel and act on the suffering of others. Child informants showed real concern for their deaf parents by helping with daily tasks, including translating messages. Two informants played an active role as translators for their parents when interacting with others. Another informant helped complete household chores as a form of empathy for the parents’ limited communication. This action is a manifestation of emotional sensitivity and feelings, and is also accompanied by real action. Therefore, empathic concern becomes a bridge between understanding and action in this limited interpersonal relationship.

Personal Distress: Emotional Barriers to Empathetic Communication

The negative aspect of this model also acknowledges the existence of internal barriers in the form of personal distress. This component, according to Murti et al. (2020), describes negative emotional reactions such as anxiety or discomfort that arise when someone faces suffering or interpersonal pressure. Two out of three informants had felt uncomfortable because of having a deaf parent, even occasionally taking an avoidant attitude at certain times. This shows that although empathy can develop, it also competes with social pressure, stigma, or inner confusion that the child feels. On the other hand, these conditions do not completely prevent empathy; over time, the children can manage these feelings and return to their empathic role.

Real Empathetic Action: Concrete Implementation

This empathetic action is real and is the result of the interaction between cognitive understanding, emotional sensitivity, and distress management. This model shows that empathetic communication does not stop at feelings, but requires active involvement in behavior. For example, actions such as being a message translator, helping with housework, and bridging parental communication with the outside world are examples of how empathy is applied. This empathetic action is not only a communication solution but also a form of validation of the existence of parents in the social environment. Child informants become a liaison between the verbal and nonverbal worlds, as well as an extension of the parents’ will in a wider social space.

Effective Empathetic Communication: The Result of Integrating the Whole Process

The end of this model shows the result of the integration of the entire communication process, namely, the achievement of effective empathetic communication between the child and the deaf parent. This effectiveness is the result of the child’s ability to navigate various aspects: understanding emotions, showing concern, coping with distress, and acting concretely. Effective empathetic communication is characterized by a relationship of mutual understanding, minimal conflict, and synergy in daily activities. This kind of communication not only supports the relationship between deaf children and parents, but also forms the child’s social character to be more inclusive, patient, and caring about differences.

CONCLUSION

The research findings show that the socialization process in children with deaf parents leads to cognitive and emotional understanding. The three child informants developed the ability to feel various emotions well, but the emotion of anger still seemed to dominate. This is a natural response to the communication barriers that children face. The emotion of anger that arises has specific roots in the context of family communication, mainly due to the failure to convey messages due to limited mastery of sign language and limited Indonesian vocabulary understood by deaf parents.

The model in this study places socialization and social learning as the main foundation in the formation of empathy. Referring to Albert Bandura’s theory, these children can imitate empathetic behavior through observation of models in their environment. Interestingly, cartoon characters such as Nobita, Doraemon, and Upin-Ipin play a significant role as social models that provide a framework for empathetic behavior. This shows that the social learning process is not limited to the immediate environment, but can also be obtained through communication media and symbols.

The role of children’s favorite characters strengthens the argument that identification with models has a strong influence on the formation of empathy. The actions of cartoon characters that show concern and help parents, in particular, become behavioral references that are then adopted by children. This phenomenon indicates that media can be an effective source of empathy learning, especially when models play a role in a family environment that has limited communication.

They develop an extraordinary ability to read emotions through facial expressions and other nonverbal signals. This ability is not a natural talent, but rather the result of adaptation to the communication environment that was formed early on. The habit of interacting nonverbally with deaf parents makes them automatically develop sensitivity to nonverbal expressions. Facial expressions are also the main medium of communication for deaf people. These children not only learn to read expressions but also develop the ability to interpret complex variations of emotions through body language and facial expressions. These skills then become a strong foundation for the development of broader cognitive empathy.

The manifestation of concern is also very concrete and real, such as actively acting as a translator for parents when interacting with others and helping to complete household chores as a form of compensation for the parents’ limited communication. These actions are evidence that the empathy that develops is emotional or cognitive, as well as behavioral. These children understand very well that their parents need practical help in social navigation in everyday life. This internalized concern becomes a bridge that connects emotional understanding with real action in interpersonal relationships.

The development of empathy is not a linear and seamless process. Personal distress that arises is often related to social pressure, stigma, or inner confusion that children feel about their parents. However, the interesting thing is that these conditions do not completely hinder the development of empathy. Over time, children can manage these feelings and return to their empathic role with more maturity.

A relationship of mutual understanding, minimal conflict, and synergy in daily activities characterizes effective empathetic communication. This role not only provides practical communication solutions but also serves as validation of the existence of parents in the social environment. In the long term, this effective empathetic communication not only supports child-parent relationships but also shapes the child’s social character to be more inclusive, patient, and considerate of differences.

RECOMMENDATION

Suggestions for children with normal hearing to improve understanding by deepening knowledge about BISINDO and SIBI, including understanding facial expressions when communicating with parents.

Advice for deaf parents

• – Parents make time for quality communication by sharing with their children so they know what their children are feeling.
• – Provide time or opportunity to learn together with good signs from YouTube media, and Pusbisindo (Indonesian Sign Language Center).

For further research, they can examine the effectiveness of BISINDO (Indonesian Sign Language) and SIBI (Indonesian Sign Language System) on the level of message understanding in children with normal hearing and deaf parents.

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