As a person who is hard of hearing (HoH), I’ve had my fair share of struggles in the business world, which has not been as inclusive as it could be. I’m not going to point fingers or cast blame, as we live in a hearing world and often just don’t realize the challenges HoH people face.
Rather, I want to offer up suggestions to help ensure your workplace is inclusive to HoH people. And considering 15% of people identify as HoH in the United States alone, it’s more important than ever to ensure we have inclusive strategies in place.
Speakerphones are awful.
For someone who is HoH, speakerphones are the bane of our corporate existence. They are pretty much a non-starter for communication.
When you use a speakerphone to communicate with me, I can guarantee with a pretty high level of accuracy that I will not be able to understand what is being said. If we are in a large room, I need to sit right on top of the speakerphone to be able to parse the words that are coming out of it.
If the conference room uses speakers in the ceiling, rather than the small speaker on the phone itself, the sound is usually worse. It is never loud enough for me when it is set for you. And the clarity is almost always garbled for someone who is HoH.
As with in-person communication, raising the volume does not necessarily help. Because while I might be able to hear sound more loudly, I still have trouble discerning the words. In addition, the normal-hearing folks in the room are going to be unhappy with how loud the volume is set.
If you are talking in a group setting using a speakerphone, and I am listening either on my cellphone or on my computer, it is highly likely that your voice is not loud enough for me to hear you. This is particularly true if you are sitting around a table and the speaker is not right next to the phone. No matter how many times I ask you to repeat yourself and speak up, I likely cannot hear you.
Closed captioning is great.
One of the very best things to come out of video platforms such as Microsoft Teams, Google Hangouts, or Zoom is the ability to turn on closed captioning. Closed captioning has revolutionized my daily life. I use it whenever I can.
Closed captioning makes it possible for me to understand what you are saying regardless of whether you are using a cellphone, your computer, or a dreaded speakerphone. It also helps me keep up with people who have accents that are hard for me to decipher.
Note that on some conferencing platforms, the host needs to configure the closed captioning service to provide the captions. Far too many of my fellow communicators have not thought to do this. To include HoH people in the conversation, I strongly urge you to enable closed captions.
Bluetooth to my hearing aids is great, too.
In 2014, the ability to connect to hearing aids via Bluetooth was introduced. At the time, it was very cumbersome, but held a lot of promise. Today, most good quality hearing aids can connect directly to an iPhone or Android phone. This means that the audio from the phone is sent directly to my hearing aids and is amplified appropriately for my hearing loss.
My phone also “rings” in my hearing aids, which provides quite a bit of amusement when I’m with a group of people and suddenly start searching for my phone for seemingly no reason.
Some hearing aids can connect directly to certain computers. In my case, I use a special “TV box” on my computer so that I can direct audio to my hearing aids. Along with making it easier for me to hear conference calls, this feature allows me to listen to music directly in my hearing aids without bothering anyone else in the room.
In-person is more difficult than remote communication.
Due to advances in technology, meeting with you in person is often more difficult than using remote technology. Meeting with you one-on-one in a quiet location is the best situation for us to communicate in person.
When I am in a group setting, in a noisy place, or (worst of all) in a group setting in a noisy place, I usually end up not participating. I cannot hear enough to add anything of value to the conversation. This means I try to avoid networking events, socializing in a group after work, and even sitting with more than one person in the cafeteria. Rest assured I would love to participate if I could. But I simply cannot.
Being on stage is terrifying and embarrassing.
I spend a lot of my time speaking at conferences. Things usually go very well until the dreaded question and answer section.
I never hear the questions that people ask me. Never. It doesn’t matter if the questioner uses a microphone or not. I have even asked people sitting in the front row to repeat the question. And then I cannot hear the people in the front row.
This situation is truly mortifying. I cannot explain how embarrassing and degrading it is to “be the expert” on stage and not be able to hear questions from people. It makes me want to go under a rock and never come out.
Last time I spoke at an in-person conference, our Director of Technology Max Swisher came up with a revolutionary idea. Instead of having people use their voices to ask questions, I provided a phone number for the audience to use to text questions to me.
People texted questions any time during the session. The questions ended up being anonymous, because I did not know any of the phone numbers that were used to text me.
The result was amazing. People asked far more questions than usual. People were not embarrassed to ask questions (because the questions were anonymous). And people who do not like to speak in public were also able to submit questions.
Once again, technology came to the rescue. I think using text for gathering questions is something everyone should consider – even those of you who can hear the question the first time.
As an audience member, I cannot hear the questions, either.
Just like when I am onstage, if I am in the audience for a conference session, I cannot hear the questions people ask. If the presenter does not repeat the question, I have absolutely no idea what was asked. We have all been taught that repeating the question is a best practice for public speaking. I wish more people would remember to do it – each and every question, each and every time. Not repeating the question leaves all HoH people isolated. And even normal hearing people have significant trouble understanding the questions when they are not repeated.
Repeating audience questions is a requirement when speaking in public.
Communicating is exhausting.
Most people are somewhat tired at the end of a busy workday. For people who are HoH, we are even more tired because we have spent hours listening. Listening is hard work for HoH people – harder than for normal hearing people.
Usually after work, I need to go be quiet. I don’t want to listen to anything that I need to parse. And I don’t want to read, either. I have spent so much of my time reading conversations via closed captioning. My eyes, my ears, and my brain all need a break.
Inclusion is not difficult.
It is not difficult to include HoH people in all business settings. It takes awareness of the situation and a commitment to making the relatively simple accommodations that allow us to participate fully in all aspects of work.
This post is inspired by an article I wrote on Medium and on the Content Rules blog. After receiving many personal notes from fellow HoH people who have had the same experience, I wanted to add more thoughts in an updated format.
Val is on the Advisory Board for the Technical Communications Program at the University of North Texas. When not working with customers or students, Val can be found sitting behind her sewing machine working on her latest quilt. She also makes a mean hummus.
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- How to Be Inclusive in the Workplace: My Experience as a Hard of Hearing Person - August 12, 2024
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