There’s no doubt that work is an important part of life. Doing well at work leads to security, happiness, wellbeing and financial stability, so there’s a lot riding on your performance at work. Of course, humans are only humans, and sometimes our health can threaten our performance at work.
Hearing loss is one of those health problems that many people will face at some point in their life. Hearing difficulties can significantly get in the way of you doing your best at work. Often, communication is crucial in the office, and almost every job requires some element of communication.
The good news is that you can overcome your hearing difficulties and achieve your potential at work, in spite of deafness. One of the most important ways to minimize the effect of your hearing loss is by using the right tools at work. Here are three tools we highly recommend to help you get on with your professional life and get the most out of your work.
1. Hearing Aids
Hearing aids can be an extremely effective way to help minimize the impact of your hearing loss at work. If experiencing hearing loss is relatively new to you or your symptoms are mild, you may not have yet explored the idea of using a hearing aid to help you at work.
It can sometimes be difficult to realize just how much your hearing loss is affecting you at work and so how much a hearing aid can work. The best step for you, if you are noticing that hearing is suddenly more difficult, is to consult your doctor. They will be able to assess your symptoms and give you a better idea about whether a hearing aid can help you.
2. Assistive Listening Devices (ALD)
If you are experiencing hearing loss, you may find that some tasks at work are more difficult than others. For example, meetings can sometimes present challenges, particularly when there is background noise, and when it is important to take in all the details of the meeting.
With such tasks, it can help to use an assistive listening device, such as a voice recorder. If you think this may help, discuss this with your employer and ask permission to use one in meetings. You may also be eligible for financing of such assistive listening devices that enable you to do your job.
3. Computer Assisted Real-time Transcriptions (CART)
If part of your job is to attend webinars, setting up CART (Computer Assisted Real-time Transcriptions), can help. They can significantly help you to get the most out of the webinar and take in more of the detail of the meeting.
If you wish to use CART, it is important to plan ahead and set up the webinar system to use CART in advance of the meeting. It may also be useful to practice using CART ahead of a significantly important meeting, as it can be difficult to get used to using in real-time.
Since 1996, Advanced Affordable Hearing has taken pride in offering hearing aids at a price you can afford. For more information on how you can start your journey to improved hearing, contact us now.
Check out some of our other posts about coping with hearing loss in the workplace: