For just a minute, picture that you’re working as a salesperson. Now picture that you have a call scheduled today with a very important client. Numerous agents from their offices have gathered to discuss whether to employ your company for the job. All of the various voices get a little jumbled and difficult to understand. But you’re hearing most of it.
Turning the speaker up just makes it sound more distorted. So you simply make do, interpreting what’s being said the best you can. You’ve become fairly good at that.
There comes a point in the discussion where things become particularly difficult to hear. This is the stage where the potential client asks “so precisely how will your firm help us solve this?””
You freeze. You have no clue what their company’s problem is because you didn’t hear the last portion of the conversation. This is your contract and your boss is depending on you. What can you do?
Do you request they repeat themselves? They’ll think you were distracted. What about relying on some slick sales jargon? No, they’ll see right through that.
Every single day, individuals everywhere go through scenarios like this while working. Oftentimes, they try to pretend they’re fine and wing it.
But how is untreated hearing loss really impacting your work as a whole? Let’s see.
Lower wages
The Better Hearing Institute surveyed 80,000 people utilizing the same technique the Census Bureau uses to get a representative sampling.
They discovered that individuals who have neglected hearing loss make around $12,000 less per year than those who can hear.
That doesn’t seem fair!
Hearing loss effects your overall performance so it’s not hard to understand the above example. The deal couldn’t be closed, sadly. When they thought that the salesperson wasn’t listening to them, they went with someone else. They decided to work with a company that listens better.
He missed out on a commission of $1000.
It was only a misunderstanding. But that doesn’t change the effect on his career. How might things have been different if he were using his hearing aids?
On the Job Injuries
A study revealed in the Journal of The American Medical Association found that individuals with neglected hearing loss are almost 30% more likely to have a serious work accident. And, your chance of ending up in the emergency room after a serious fall goes up by 300% according to other research.
And it might come as a surprise that individuals with mild hearing loss had the highest chance among those who have hearing loss. Maybe they don’t grasp that hearing loss of any type impairs an individual at work.
How to have a prosperous career with hearing loss
You have so much to offer an employer:
- Confidence
- Skills
- Personality
- Empathy
- Experience
Hearing loss shouldn’t dominate these. However, that doesn’t mean it’s not a factor. You might not even recognize how huge an effect on your job it’s having. Here are some ways to decrease that impact:
- Request a phone that is HAC (Hearing Aid Compatible). The sound doesn’t pass through background noise but instead goes straight into your ear. You will need hearing aids that are compatible with this technology to use one.
- When you’re talking with people, make sure you face them. Try not to talk on the phone as much as you can.
- Keep a well lit work area. Even if you’re not a lip reader, being able to see them can help you make out what’s being said.
- Recognize that when you’re interviewing, you’re not required to reveal that you have hearing loss. And it isn’t okay for the interviewer to ask. But the other consideration is whether your hearing loss will have an effect on your ability to have a good interview. You will most likely need to make the interviewer aware of your condition if that’s the case.
- Speak up when a job surpasses 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 noisy. So that you can make up for it, offer to undertake a different job. In this way, it will never seem as if you aren’t doing your part.
- Never overlook wearing your hearing aids at work and all of the rest of the time. If you’re wearing your hearing aids you may not even need many of the accommodations.
- Write a sincere accommodations letter to your boss. This way, you have it in writing.
- Requesting a written outline/agenda before a meeting. Discussions will be easier to follow.
Working with hearing loss
Even if you have slight hearing loss, it can still effect your work performance. But lots of the obstacles that untreated hearing loss can present will be resolved by getting it treated. We can help so contact us!