Hearing loss and work

You spend a great deal of time at work, making it all the more important to create an environment where you can progress and be successful. Hearing loss can make this a challenge. Work performance—and even your income— are directly related to healthy hearing. From trouble deciphering information given over the phone to missing essential instructions at a department meeting, hearing loss can make work more difficult than it needs to be. The inability to recognize emergency signals, such as the firealarm, can also make your workplace unsafe for you. Implementing specific tips on better hearing, assistive listening devices, and hearing aids, you can stop focusing on what you’re not hearing and start crushing your daily goals.

Addressing your hearing loss not only makes your daily life easier, but it can also directly impact your performance at work. Once you can better understand and clearly hear information being shared with you, you’ll feel more motivated and tuned-in to complete your tasks with confidence. You’ll also notice that communication with your colleagues gets better. And, since you’re brain has to spend less time deciphering what it hears, your brain-processing speed can start to recover and increase, leading to better performance overall.

Sometimes, better hearing is about making small adjustments to your daily routine. Where you sit in the office and how others talk with you can make a world of difference. If you find it difficult to interact with colleagues at work, try implementing these tips.

Damage from noise or chemical exposure caused by certain jobs, also known as occupational hearing loss, is the most common illness related to work. Since we spend so much of our day at work, it’s extra important to prevent this damage. If chemicals are the culprit, take steps to avoid the chemicals or wear protection, such as gloves, eye protection  and respirators, when possible. If noise levels are regularly over 85 dBA at work—which is equivalent to something like the sound of a lawn mower, vacuum cleaner or heavy traffic—always wear ear protection, try your best to move away from the source of the noise and take frequent breaks to give your ears a rest.

Today’s modern hearing aids are intelligent and have functionalities that recognize and adjust to your environment. They can also have a major impact on your workplace performance. Technology such as Augmented Xperience, for example, separates speech from other sounds and makes it much easier to hear conversations and those speaking at meetings. Bluetooth technology is also a workplace gamechanger. Instead of struggling to hear someone on the other line, you can stream the sound directly to your hearing aids, ensuring a simple and smooth hearing experience.