Just picture for a minute you’re a salesperson. Today, you’re having a very important call with a possible client. Your company is being looked at for a job and numerous people from your business have gathered on a conference call. All of the different voices get a bit jumbled and difficult to comprehend. But you’re getting most of it.
And it sounds distorted and even less clear when you continue cranking the volume up. So you simply do your best, reading between the lines. You’ve become pretty good at that.
There comes a point in the conversation where things become particularly hard to hear. This is the point where the potential client asks “so exactly how will your company help us solve this?””
You panic. You have no idea what their company’s problem is because you didn’t hear the last portion of the conversation. Your boss is counting on you to close this deal. What do you do?
Do you request they repeat themselves? They’ll think you were distracted. Do you start using a lot of sales jargon? No, that will be too obvious.
Individuals go through scenarios like this every day when they are at work. Oftentimes, they try to pretend they’re fine and wing it.
But how is neglected hearing loss really impacting your work as a whole? The following can help us find out.
Unequal pay
The Better Hearing Institute surveyed 80,000 people using the same method the Census Bureau uses to get a representative sampling.
Individuals who have neglected hearing loss earn, on average, $12,000 less per year.
Hey, that isn’t fair!
We could dig deep to try to figure out what the cause is, but as the example above shows, hearing loss can impact your overall performance. Unfortunately, he couldn’t close the deal. Everything was going excellently until the client thought he wasn’t paying attention to them. They decided to go with a company that listens better.
His commission on this contract would have been over $1000.
It was only a misunderstanding. But that doesn’t change the impact on his career. If he was wearing hearing aids, think about how different things could have been.
Injuries on the job
A study revealed in the Journal of The American Medical Association discovered that individuals with untreated hearing loss are almost 30% more likely to have a significant work accident. And, your risk of ending up in the emergency room after a serious fall increases by 300% according to other research.
And people with only mild hearing loss were at the highest risk, surprisingly! Maybe, their hearing loss is mild enough that they’re not even aware of it.
Even if you have hearing loss, you can still have a successful career
Your employer has a lot to gain from you:
- Personality
- Confidence
- Experience
- Skills
- Empathy
Hearing loss shouldn’t overshadow these. However, that doesn’t mean it’s not a factor. It may be impacting your job more than you recognize. Here are a few ways to reduce that impact:
- Asking for a written outline/agenda before attending a meeting. Conversations will be easier to keep up with.
- Make sure your work space is well lit. Even if you don’t read lips, looking directly at them can help you make out what’s being said.
- Compose a respectful accommodations letter to your boss. This way, you have it in writing.
- Speak up when a task surpasses your abilities. Your boss might, for example, ask you to go and do some work in an area of the building that can be really noisy. So that you can make up for it, offer to take on a different task. This way, it never seems like you’re not doing your part.
- Understand that during a job interview, you aren’t required to divulge 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 impact on your ability to have a good interview. You will probably need to inform the interviewer of your condition if that’s the case.
- When you’re talking to people, make certain you face them. Try to keep phone calls to a minimum.
- Wear your hearing aids at work every day, at all times. When you do this, lots of of the accommodations won’t be necessary.
- Request a phone that is HAC (Hearing Aid Compatible). The sound doesn’t go through background noise but instead goes directly into your ear. In order to utilize this technology you will require a hearing aid that’s compatible.
Hearing loss at work
Hearing loss can effect your work, even if it’s mild. But many of the obstacles that untreated hearing loss can create will be solved by having it treated. We can help so call us!