Just picture for a minute you’re a salesperson. Now imagine that you have a call scheduled today with a very valuable client. Your company is being looked at for a job and a number of individuals from your business have gathered on a conference call. All of the various voices get a bit jumbled and hard to understand. But you’re pretty certain you got the gist of it.
And it sounds distorted and even less clear when you keep cranking up the volume. So you just read between the lines the best you can. You’re quite 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 precisely how will your firm help us solve this?””
You panic. You didn’t catch the last few minutes and aren’t certain what problem they’re attempting to resolve. Your boss is counting on you to close this deal. So now what?
Should you admit you didn’t hear them and ask them to repeat what they said? They may think you weren’t paying attention. What about relying on some slippery sales jargon? No, that will be too obvious.
Every single day, individuals everywhere are dealing with situations like this while working. Sometimes, they try to pretend they’re okay and wing it.
So in general, how is your work being impacted by your hearing loss? Let’s find out.
Lower wages
A representative sampling of 80,000 individuals was collected by The Better Hearing Institute using the same method that the Census Bureau uses.
They found that people who have neglected hearing loss earn around $12,000 less per year than those who can hear.
Hey, that’s not fair!
Hearing loss impacts your general performance so it isn’t difficult to understand the above example. Unfortunately, he couldn’t close the deal. When they thought that the salesperson wasn’t paying attention to them, they went with someone else. They didn’t want to work with a firm that doesn’t listen.
He lost out on a commission of $1000.
The circumstances were misconstrued. But that doesn’t change the impact on his career. How might things have been different if he were wearing his hearing aids?
Injuries on the job
A study revealed in the Journal of The American Medical Association found that individuals with untreated hearing loss are nearly 30% more likely to have a serious work accident. Studies have also revealed a 300% increased risk of having a serious fall and ending up in the emergency room.
And people with only slight hearing loss were at the greatest risk, unexpectedly! Maybe they don’t realize that hearing loss of any type impairs a person at work.
Even if you have hearing loss, you can still have a successful career
You have a lot to offer an employer:
- Skills
- Personality
- Confidence
- Experience
- Empathy
These positive qualities shouldn’t be overshadowed by hearing loss. But it is frequently a factor. You may not even realize how big an impact on your job it’s having. Here are some ways to lessen that impact:
- Requesting a written outline/agenda before attending a meeting. Conversations will be easier to follow.
- When you’re talking to people, make certain you look directly at them. Try not to talk on the phone as much as possible.
- Keep a brightly lit work space. Even if you’re not a lip reader, being able to see them can help you understand what’s being said.
- Speak up when a task is beyond your abilities. For instance, your boss might want you to cover for somebody who works in a noisy part of the building. Offer to do a different job to make up for it. That way, it never seems like you’re not doing your part.
- Recognize that when you’re interviewing, you’re not required to reveal that you have hearing loss. And the interviewer may not ask. Conversely, you may need to think about if your neglected hearing loss will affect your ability to have a successful interview. You will most likely need to make the interviewer aware of your condition if that’s the case.
- Use your hearing aids while your working every day, all the time. If you’re wearing your hearing aids you may not even need many of the accommodations.
- Ask for a phone that is HAC (Hearing Aid Compatible). The sound goes straight into your ear instead of through background noise. In order to use this technology you will require a hearing aid that’s appropriate.
- Compose a respectful accommodations letter to your boss. By doing this, you have it in writing.
Hearing loss at work
Even if you have slight hearing loss, it can still effect your work performance. But lots of the challenges that untreated hearing loss can present will be solved by getting it treated. We can help so contact us!