Hearing Loss at Work

Hello and welcome back to the Peter Byrom Audiology blog! Summer is over and as we get back to work again, for those with hearing loss it can be challenging.

Hearing loss can be tricky at the best of times but add meetings, open-plan offices and background noise and it can be daunting.

In this instalment of the blog, we’ll be looking at your rights, tips and tricks and of course, technology.

Your rights

First of all, it’s important to understand that your employer has a duty of care to help make reasonable adjustments. What could these be?

• Making changes to where you sit in the office – is there a quiet spot that would make hearing others easier?
• Communicating with colleagues that you might be struggling with – would it help if they emailed rather than phone you?
• WFH –does your role allow for working from home from time to time?

The RNID has some great resources for yourself and employers about making changes, you can check it out here:

https://rnid.org.uk/information-and-support/your-rights/your-rights-at-work/

Meetings

If all employers approached meetings as though they were considering the needs of those with hearing loss, I think we would all enjoy them more!

• Do you need to invite everyone? The more people present, the harder it can be to lipread. Plus, the meeting room will have to be bigger too which won’t help with acoustics.
• House rules! ‘Meeting etiquette’ benefits us all, make sure people aren’t talking over each other.
• Can it be moved online? Online meetings can be easier for those with hearing loss as they can stream the sound directly to their hearing aids.

What can you do for yourself?

Make sure that you have given your audiologist as much detail as possible in terms of your working environment. This will help them understand how best to fine-tune their hearing aids. They may add an extra programme or recommend additional devices to connect to your hearing aids. Let’s take a look at what technology could help in the work environment…

Technology

By using an additional accessory, you are giving a boost to your hearing aid performance when you need it most.

A few of my favourites include the Roger Table Mic from Phonak:

https://www.phonak.com/en-uk/hearing-devices/microphones/roger-table-mic-ii

It’s designed specifically for meetings and connects wirelessly to your hearing aids. Place the Table Mic in the middle of the table and it will pick up all of the voices present and stream the sound directly to your hearing aids. The beauty of the Table Mic is that you can use 2 or 3 in a network to cover larger spaces.

What if the meeting isn’t around a table, but is a presentation by one speaker? This is where remote, or lapel microphones come in, such as the Streamline Mic from Signia:

https://www.signia.net/en-gb/chargers-and-accessories/streamline-mic/

The speaker simply clips it onto their top and you’ll hear their voice directly into your hearing aids.

These are just two examples of the types of accessories that are available to support you in these challenging work environments.

Funding

Think you might benefit from one of these accessories? The good news, there is funding available through the government’s Access To Work scheme. Check out here if you are eligible for some support: https://www.gov.uk/access-to-work/apply

In clinic

Here in the clinic, we provide everything you need to succeed at work and at home regardless of your hearing loss. Do get in touch if you think we can help but for now, it’s back to work!

Take care,

Peter