Abstract：This study used semi-structured interviews and observation to explore the linguistic communication barriers of the urban elderly in daily and institutional communication, with the hospital as a representative of the institutions. The findings show that the causes of language communication barriers for the urban elderly fall into three categories: weak coding and decoding skills, insufficient capabilities in the digitalization of information, and a low level of awareness in language services at the social level. Currently, there are three solutions for the urban elderly to overcome language communication barriers: individual social networks, services and products provided by enterprises, and government-community language services, but the only effective solution is the language support of core members of individual social networks. The over-reliance on core members is problematic, as it shows deficiencies of other solutions. Overcoming the urban elderly’s language communication barriers and bridging the digital divide in terms of information access, media use and linguistic communication knowledge requires the establishment of an all-encompassing, multifaceted safeguard system at the individual, enterprise, and government-community levels, and with the support of the national policy.
