Your hearing makes it possible to participate in conversations, recognize environmental and safety sounds, locate the direction sound comes from and more. However, when you develop hearing loss, these important skills can fall by the wayside. One area you can see these adverse side effects is your workplace.
How Does Hearing Loss Affect My Work Life?
Hearing is often taken for granted, considered more of a background skill than a conscious effort. You don’t actively choose to hear something—it just happens. However, when your hearing is damaged or muffled, its importance quickly becomes clear. Hearing loss doesn’t just affect your personal life; it can significantly impact your professional life as well. Here are three ways it can influence your work:
- Communication challenges. Hearing loss can lead to misunderstandings during meetings, phone calls or casual water cooler conversations. Over time, this can lead to frequent errors and strained relationships with colleagues or clients.
- Reduced productivity. Struggling to follow instructions or missing critical details can hinder productivity.
- Increased stress and fatigue. Constantly trying to decipher speech can lead to greater mental exhaustion, causing burnout over time.
Luckily, hearing loss doesn’t have to hold you back. By addressing these challenges, you can continue to excel at work.
How Can I Manage Hearing Loss in the Workplace?
Managing hearing loss in the workplace involves a combination of communication strategies, accommodations and hearing aids:
- Communication strategies. If you feel comfortable, let your colleagues know about your hearing loss and ask them to practice clear communication. This may include facing you while they speak, giving you a front-and-center seat in meetings and repeating or rephrasing themselves when necessary. You know what you need best. Don’t hesitate to ask for it.
- Accommodations. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations to help you do your job. Accommodations may include but are not limited to a sign language interpreter, real-time captioning and written materials. Talk to your human resources representative about putting any necessary accommodations in place.
- Hearing aids. Hearing aids collect and amplify speech sounds to help you communicate with others. They can help you during work meetings, phone calls and even after work happy hours at Burtons Grill & Bar.
Hearing loss shouldn’t prevent you from thriving in your career. Contact Massachusetts Hearing Group today to discuss hearing aids and communication strategies with one of our specialists.