For just a moment, imagine that you’re working as a salesperson. Now picture that you have a call scheduled today with a very valuable client. Your company is being considered for a job and numerous individuals from your company have come together on a conference call. All of the different voices get a little jumbled and hard to comprehend. But you’re quite sure you got the gist of it.
And it sounds distorted and even less clear when you continue turning up the volume. So you simply make do, interpreting what’s being said the best you can. You’ve become pretty good at that.
As you listen, the voices sound particularly muffled for about a minute. This is the point where the potential client says “so exactly how will your firm help us solve this?””
You freeze. You have no idea what their company’s problem is because you didn’t catch the last part of the conversation. Your boss is counting on you to seal this deal. So now what?
Do you ask them to repeat themselves? They might think you weren’t paying attention. What about resorting to some slick sales jargon? No, they’ll see right through that.
Individuals go through scenarios like this every day when they are at work. They attempt to read between the lines and cope.
But how is untreated hearing loss really affecting your work as a whole? Let’s see.
Unequal pay
A representative sampling of 80,000 people was obtained by The Better Hearing Institute utilizing the same method that the Census Bureau uses.
They found that individuals who have neglected hearing loss make around $12,000 less per year than those who are able to hear.
Hey, that isn’t fair!
We could dig deep to attempt to find out what the cause is, but as the example above shows, hearing loss can affect your overall performance. Sadly, he couldn’t close the deal. Everything was going very well until the client thought he wasn’t paying attention to them. They didn’t want to work with a company that doesn’t listen.
He missed out on a $1000 commission.
It was just a misunderstanding. But how do you think this impacted his career? If he was using hearing aids, think about how different things could have been.
Injuries on at work
Individuals who have neglected hearing loss are almost 30% more likely to incur a serious on-the-job injury according to a study carried out by the American Medical Association. Studies have also revealed a 300% increased risk of having a significant fall and ending up in the emergency room.
And individuals with only mild hearing loss were at the highest risk, surprisingly! Perhaps they don’t realize that hearing loss of any type impairs a person at work.
How to have a successful career with hearing loss
You have so much to offer an employer:
- Skills
- Personality
- Confidence
- Empathy
- Experience
These positive attributes shouldn’t be dominated by hearing loss. However, that doesn’t mean it’s not a factor. You may not even realize how great an effect on your job it’s having. Here are some ways to decrease that impact:
- Before a meeting, find out if you can get a written agenda and overview. Discussions will be easier to keep up with.
- Write a respectful accommodations letter to your boss. By doing this, you have it in writing.
- Look directly at people when you’re speaking with them. Try to keep phone calls to a minimum.
- Request a phone that is HAC (Hearing Aid Compatible). The sound doesn’t go through background noise but instead goes straight into your ear. You will need hearing aids that are compatible with this technology to use one.
- Speak up when a task is beyond your abilities. Your boss might, for instance, ask you to go and do some work in a part of the building that can be very loud. Offer to do a different job to make up for it. That way, it will never seem as if you aren’t doing your part.
- Be certain your work area is brightly lit. Being able to see lips can help you follow along even if you don’t read lips.
- Wear your hearing aids while your working every day, at all times. If you have your hearing aids in you might not even require many of the accommodations.
- Know that you’re not required to disclose that you have hearing loss during an interview. And the interviewer may not ask. But the other consideration is whether your hearing loss will have an effect on your ability to have a successful interview. In that case, you might choose to reveal this before the interview.
Working with hearing loss
Hearing loss can impact your work, even if it’s mild. But lots of the obstacles that untreated hearing loss can present will be solved by getting it treated. We can help so call us!