Julie Raney is a certified and licensed audiologist. She has a B.S. in Communication Sciences and Disorders and a Master’s Degree in Audiology from Idaho State University. She has worked as a clinical audiologist in Colorado since 2005. She specializes in hearing amplification for adults and delivers her services in both English and Sign Language.

Hearing Loss and Employment

When hearing loss starts to develop it is often certain tones and pitches, which diminish first. This can make conversation much more difficult to decipher. You may miss or misinterpret important information during a business meeting, conversation with your co-workers or boss. This can make you appear out of the loop or as if you are not paying attention. If this happens once or twice your co-workers may understand but as mistakes and miscommunication continue to pile up, your employers most likely will take note.

You may also appear out of touch between friendships at work. It is often these relationships in work places that open up opportunity for advancement and inclusiveness on work related projects. When you can’t build these relationships at work you are more likely to miss these opportunities. People with untreated hearing loss are often passed over for promotions and raises.

The Price of Hearing Loss

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that hearing loss costs $750 billion each year worldwide. Lower productivity, higher educational costs, and societal costs are factored into this projection. It is estimated that people living with untreated hearing loss earn approximately 25% less than those with healthy hearing. The average income for those with hearing loss is $23,481 yearly, while peers with healthy hearing make nearly 10,000 more annually. Adults with untreated hearing loss are more likely to lose their job, twice as likely to deal with unemployment and struggle to be re-hired as opposed to equals with healthy hearing.

Speaking Up About Hearing Loss

These statistics are very unfortunate because they can often be prevented. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) protects employees from discrimination based on a disability. The problem is that often people do not realize they have hearing loss or they choose to ignore the condition. It is important to be aware of the warning signs of hearing loss as it can often develop slowly over time, so you don’t realize it’s a problem until your job and your relationships are at risk. If you are struggling to hear in noisy settings, at meetings or over the phone, do not ignore this! The longer you avoid dealing with your hearing loss the worse things can progress in your professional career.

Know Your Rights

When you know that you have a hearing loss, you are within your rights to ask for accommodations in the workplace to aid you with productivity. Understanding examples of accommodations can be helpful in advocating for your needs. For instance, if you are working in a noisy office it is reasonable to ask to be moved to a quieter location where you can focus and hear better. Another reasonable accommodation would be to request for meeting notes to be provided to make sure you did not miss details of the meeting due to your hearing loss. There are now many computer programs that translate spoken language to text, to ensure you do not misunderstand spoken information. When you know and admit you have a hearing loss you can avoid being part of a statistic, which keeps people with this disability disproportionately under-employed.

Treating Hearing Loss

One of the first steps to continue to succeed at work, despite hearing disability is admitting you have a problem. Often people avoid dealing with their hearing loss because they are concerned with the stigma surrounding it. People fear wearing hearing aids will make them appear old or out of touch. Ironically, not being able to follow conversation due to untreated hearing loss can make you seem much more out of touch. Take the leap today and contact us to set up a hearing test. We can help you understand the extent of your hearing loss and help you find the best solution to help you excel in the workplace.