For just a second, picture that you’re working as a salesperson. Now picture that you have a call scheduled today with a really important client. Multiple representatives from their offices have gathered to discuss whether to employ your business for the job. All of the various voices get a little garbled and difficult to understand. But you’re getting most of it.
Cranking up the speaker just makes it sound more distorted. So you simply do your best, interpreting what’s being said the best you can. You’ve become fairly good at that.
As you try to listen, the voices sound specifically muffled for around a minute. Then suddenly you hear, “so what can your company do to help us with this”?”
You panic. You have no idea what their company’s issue is because you didn’t hear the last part of the discussion. This is your deal and your boss is depending on you. What do you do?
Do you ask them to repeat themselves? They’ll think you were distracted. Do you begin using a lot of sales jargon? No, they’ll see right through that.
Every single day, people everywhere are dealing with scenarios like this at work. They attempt to read between the lines and get by.
But how is untreated hearing loss really impacting your work in general? Let’s find out.
Unequal pay
A representative sampling of 80,000 individuals was collected by The Better Hearing Institute utilizing the same technique that the Census Bureau uses.
Individuals who have disregarded hearing loss earn, on average, $12,000 less per year.
Hey, that isn’t fair!
Hearing loss impacts your overall performance so it isn’t hard to understand the above example. The deal couldn’t be closed, regrettably. Everything was going excellently until the client thought he wasn’t listening to them. They decided to work with a company that listens better.
He missed out on a commission of $1000.
It was just a misunderstanding. But that doesn’t change the impact on his career. If he was wearing hearing aids, think about how different things could have been.
Workplace Injuries
A study revealed in the Journal of The American Medical Association discovered that individuals with untreated hearing loss are almost 30% more likely to suffer a significant work accident. And, your danger of ending up in the emergency room after a significant fall goes up by 300% according to other research.
And it may come as a shock that individuals with mild hearing loss had the highest chance among those with hearing loss. Maybe they don’t recognize that hearing loss of any type impairs an individual at work.
How to have a successful career with hearing loss
You have a lot to offer an employer:
- Personality
- Experience
- Confidence
- Empathy
- Skills
Hearing loss shouldn’t overshadow these. But it is frequently a factor. It may be impacting your job more than you recognize. Here are a few ways to lessen that impact:
- When you’re talking with people, make certain you look directly at them. Try not to talk on the phone as much as possible.
- Understand that when you’re interviewing, you aren’t required to disclose that you have hearing loss. And it’s not okay for the interviewer to ask. But the other side is whether your hearing loss will have an impact on your ability to have a successful interview. You will probably need to make the interviewer aware of your condition if that’s the case.
- Asking for a written outline/agenda before attending a meeting. It will be easier to follow the conversation.
- Ask for a phone that is HAC (Hearing Aid Compatible). The sound goes straight into your ear and not through background noise. You will need hearing aids that are compatible with this technology to use one.
- Make sure your work space is well lit. Being able to see lips can help you follow even if you’re not a lip reader.
- If a task is going to surpass your capability you need to speak up. Your boss might, for instance, ask you to go and do some work in a part of the building that can be really loud. In order to make up for it, offer to take on a different task. By doing that, your boss won’t think you’re coping out.
- Write a sincere accommodations letter to your boss. This way, you have it in writing.
- Wear your hearing aids while your working every day, at all times. When you do, lots of of the accommodations aren’t necessary.
Working with hearing loss
Even if you have slight hearing loss, it can still impact your performance at work. But lots of the obstacles that neglected hearing loss can present will be resolved by getting it treated. Call us today – we can help!