Hiring someone with a hearing disability doesn’t have to be tricky or expensive. There are several easy ways to accommodate someone who is hard-of-hearing. Check out our handy guide to working with a hard-of-hearing colleague.
What is it like for a hard-of-hearing employee in the office?
Having a hearing difficulty needn’t be something your employees struggle with, but many do. In the workplace, things like telephone calls, audio-visual material, meetings, and background noise can be challenging.
A hard-of-hearing employee may find telephone conversations difficult, sometimes even impossible, but often, it depends on the situation. For example, certain voices or accents can make understanding speech over the phone difficult. High background noise levels on either end of the line can also be challenging. Audio-visual material can be difficult for the same reasons, and your employee may require alternatives in text form.
High levels of background noise are a massive problem for me and many other hard-of-hearing workers. However, silence can be just as damaging to your hard-of-hearing personnel. A complete lack of background noise causes tinnitus, which can affect your employee’s concentration. Tinnitus is a persistent ringing in the ears which is common in anyone with hearing loss.
Meetings and conferences can also be difficult, but many hard-of-hearing people find in-person communication much easier than telecalls.
What kinds of accommodations will I be asked for?
Under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), employers have to provide reasonable accommodations for employees who disclose their disability to you unless doing so would present an undue hardship. For your hard-of-hearing employees, these accommodations may include:
- Auto-captioning software
- American Sign Language interpreters or lip speakers and readers
- Textphones
- Speech-to-text software
- Transcripts
- VRI/VRS
Auto-captioning software can be expensive, but it’s almost non-negotiable for someone like me. If your employee is expected to watch a lot of video content or attend many virtual meetings, they might need you to provide auto-captioning software or speech-to-text software.
Another option for audio-visual material or online meetings is text-based references to material, such as transcripts or write-ups of meeting notes. Some people might require more visual references on presentation screens than usual, as it makes it much easier to follow the content of the talk. For example, things like pointers, whether on-screen or handheld, can make a world of difference to a hard-of-hearing person’s ability to understand.
At meetings and face-to-face conferences, your hard-of-hearing employee may rely heavily on lipreading. If so, it’s essential to accommodate this as best you can. Personally, I just need you to face me (it’s more challenging to lipread side on) and speak normally. Any over-enunciation or over-enthusiastic facial movements distort your lips and the sound even more. However, every hard-of-hearing person is different, and for some people, this may help. It’s always best to find out from your employee, personally, what they prefer, if anything. Some can manage without any effort on your part, but many of us do need a little understanding.
Next time you’re considering hiring a hard-of-hearing employee, read over this guide, and you’ll have a good idea of what to expect.
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