Hearing loss in the workplace can be a frustrating and even frightening experience. When you are expected to take part in workplace activities and communication, you might try to blend in and do your best without the resources you need. That struggle to communicate at work can have effects on your comfort, your workplace success, and even safety. With these issues in mind, it’s important to learn to navigate the workplace with hearing loss in a way that makes you effective at your job and supported in all the ways you need. Let’s take a look at a few of the steps you can take to make sure you can thrive in your job with hearing loss. You will need to recruit some assistance, but once you have all the right resources in place, you can continue to do your job with great success.
Seek Resources
Working with hearing loss is something you can’t do alone. The first step to take is to know your rights. By law, those who have hearing loss need to receive resources and support to continue their working lives. You deserve support, but many people with hearing loss fail to seek out those resources. Once you understand what can help you do your job, the next step is to have frank conversations with your supervisors and coworkers. These conversations will require you to be bold, but the benefits far outweigh the discomfort you might feel at disclosing hearing loss to the people at your job. When you let them know what will help you do your best at work, everyone involved will be glad to set you up for success.
Strategize Communication
The main difficulty of hearing loss in the workplace is difficulty communicating. Whereas you might have taken part in meetings without assistance in the past, you might find that you need help understanding what is going on. Your employer can help you find the right solutions to any communication environment. Many people find that written communication is a great way to support hearing loss at work. When you get an agenda for a meeting in writing before the event, for example, this document can help you orientate what you need to know. You might be able to position yourself in a place that makes communication easier in some settings.
Asking others to provide written details after conversations is one of the best steps you can take. If you have a casual conversation in a noisy place, simply ask your coworker to write you an email afterward with the details. This written record not only helps you organize your workflow but also helps you get the facts straight if a conversation is confusing. Getting the right workstation is essential to your success, as well. If you work in a noisy part of the building or office, it can be particularly difficult to talk on the phone. The competing sound from others’ voices can make it difficult to have a conversation when someone stops by your workstation or office. If you find that communication is difficult in the presence of background noise, you can ask to move your workstation to a quieter location and that makes it easier to have meetings or conversations.
Seek Treatment for Hearing Loss
If you haven’t yet received treatment for your hearing loss, this single step can have the most transformative effect on your workplace success. All the above accommodation strategies can help in the short term, but they are not durable solutions to the underlying issue of your workplace needs. The first step in the direction of treatment is to get a thorough diagnostic exam.
Our offices can assess your hearing ability, and we can consult with you about the workplace and other contexts that make hearing difficult. With this information in hand, we can recommend the right hearing aids or other assistive technology to meet these needs. If you have been avoiding treatment for hearing loss, your workplace success, relationships, and even safety should be reason enough to encourage you to take the first step. You can thrive in the workplace once again when you have the right support.
