People with hearing loss who have been successful in their careers

Posted by jaema @jaema, Dec 27, 2020

Hi -is there someone I can talk to, or read about, who's been successful in their career? I've struggled with hearing loss, and its effects, for 30+ years and because of these experiences, I've come to believe that I would not be able to navigate an employment setting in a way that would be satisfactory to any employer. I also have come to believe that advancement in any career is next to impossible for me to achieve. I've been significantly under-employed my entire life. I'm now receiving vocational rehabilitation services and I'm wondering if I've sold myself short all of these years. I think that if I were to conduct a little research into how other people have managed well in their careers, without being able to hear clearly the people around them, then I might believe that this could be possible for me, too.

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lucyg | @lucyg | Dec 28, 2020

Hi, I have had hearing impairment all my life . L: severely impaired and R: profoundly impaired. As a child my parents got me an aid for my right ear only. At elementary school a Speech and Language specialist came to teach me to read lips. School was a struggle - I believe my speech recognition scores were in the 60-70% range. I persevered and got a BSc in Chemistry and studied French literature for one year at a university in France. I am an amateur musician and we've been trying to keep our band up using SmartMusic - not totally successful for me, but still fun

I have had many careers - I call myself a cat with 9 lives and I'm on my third cat :). I speak fluent French and some Spanish and Italian. My latest career I implement and train clients in Business Software focusing on companies with Manufacturing. I've been a bench Chemist, run an electronics manufacturing production floor, run Medical Devices production, Logistics, Purchasing., been a Quality Manager in Pharma, run a large warehouse and lately been in IT for many years. Hearing technology has changed my life. I now have 2 Widex hearing aids and my speech recognition is up to 90%. Adding my left ear to the hearing world as an adult, I had recruitment issues at first but got used to that. Hearing thro 2 ears was fabulous. Using an external Mic in a meeting situation is helpful. But usually, I have to let people know that I read lips to understand them and they let me watch them speak as well as hear them. We need to let people know how to help us. Side conversations are really tricky, and unfortunately I miss those frequently. What is particularly useful is getting sound directly to my aids - both phone and laptop as I mostly do remote training now and meetings with clients. Microsoft Teams has closed captions for English only at the moment.

It is possible to do many things, one needs to work with people around you, generally they want to be helpful. Let them know what you need and do use the latest technologies that work best for you. There is a lot of conversation here about captions and neck loops - both essential these days for me. Also, getting a Hearing Aid specialist to adjust the sound to match YOUR hearing needs (not just the theoretical - which is a good baseline) - go back to get them adjusted as best you can. But it is possible to do many things even with our impairment. Good luck and don't give up.

jaema | @jaema | Dec 28, 2020

In reply to @faithwalker007 "First, if I may, what degree of hearing loss must you deal with? It helps me..." + (show)

My R ear is between mild to moderate, mostly. My L ear is more in the moderate to moderate/severe range. At 8000Hz, my ears drop to severe and profound, respectively. I have had mostly conductive hearing loss all of my life with sensorineural hearing loss creeping in as I age. Because hearing aids are designed to manage sound so much, I understand speech better without them.

Julie, Volunteer Mentor | @julieo4 | Dec 28, 2020

In reply to @faithwalker007 "My husband is deaf in his left ear and it’s so frustrating for him when people..." + (show)

That was my reality for years as I had bilateral hearing loss and was only fit with one aid initially. The second 'hearing aid' I was fit with was a bicross that transferred sound from the unaided side to the side with the hearing aid. That was long enough ago that I had a wire in the back of my head from transmitting device to the receiving device. Next fit was wireless as technology progressed. Now I have a cochlear implant on the totally deaf side and still use a hearing aid on the other side. It works well.

Your husband may want to look into a bicross hearing aid, or possibly a BAHA (Bone anchored hearing aid) that is designed especially for single sided deafness. A cochlear implant may also be an option.

Unless he wants to get help for this you are probably stuck being his hearing ear doll. Not a problem, but the independence one gains from using technology can be life changing. Definitely; to each his/her own.

jaema | @jaema | Dec 28, 2020

In reply to @tonyinmi "@jaema, do you wear hearing aids at work? Successful is a relative word. Being happy at..." + (show)

@tonyinmi

@jaema, do you wear hearing aids at work? Successful is a relative word. Being happy at your job is most important. If you're not happy with what you do, then it makes it hard to go to work everyday. Hearing loss runs in my family and I was diagnosed in 2nd grade with progressive, sensorineural loss. My hearing loss has guided me throughout my career. I'm a retired electrical engineer. My career started as an electronic technician but I switched to engineering when I wanted a more challenging position. I went back to school and had to start over since none of the credits I earned in technical school transferred. It took me 15 years to get an engineering degree because I needed to work and support family. I left one job because it was too noisy and I felt it risked the residual hearing that I had. Perhaps if the hearing aid technology back then did a better job of filtering noise, I may not have switched careers or went back to school. One thing you don't want to do is hide your hearing loss. If people do not know, you are viewed as being aloof or slow and you may be given remedial tasks. People with normal hearing do not understand. We have to advocate for ourselves by letting others know how hearing loss affects us. Hearing loss is very prevalent. Chances are, you'll get a boss that has a family member that has hearing loss. They may understand what it's like. You will need to find ways of making sure you are doing what is needed for your job. For instance, I was part of a team and had to participate in conference calls. I missed a lot of what was said in the room and basically all of what was said on the speaker phone. I would follow up with the project manager to make sure I knew deadline dates for when my tasks needed to be completed. Every job has its own challenges and they will be different. As I mentioned previously, it's most important to be happy with what you do.
Tony in Michigan

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Do you find that your brain is working overtime just to navigate the very basics of a complex social situation, such as those at a workplace setting? You wrote that you missed a lot of what was said at work and I resonated with your experiences. I took care of myself physically, mentally, and socially on my own time to help mitigate the after-effects of the stress I accumulated throughout the day but this in and of itself was exhausting. Missing so much of the information that was said around me, and having to play make-up/catch-up all day every day, left me being exhausted at the end of the day. I just couldn't see my way through to advancement in any career. I was also wrestling with cognitive distortions and errors about my situation at the time, resulted in feelings of hopelessness and a significant lack of support, and I see that now. Vocational Rehabilitative Services is nice, and I'm grateful to have qualified for these services, but I'm finding myself having to teach them about some common experiences of a person with hearing loss and it has been up to me to find resources for myself. I am grateful for the support while I do this, however.

Anyway, thanks so much for sharing and I appreciate the dialogue.

Faithwalker007 (Renee) | @faithwalker007 | Dec 28, 2020

In reply to @julieo4 "That was my reality for years as I had bilateral hearing loss and was only fit..." + (show)

Well, since we're both disabled. I doubt we'll be doing anything new for awhile. His hearing aid broke and no fixin' that baby much less getting a new one. He hated the thing anyway. We need to work on getting him new ones - ones he actually likes and won't break at the first sign of rough weather and life. Wyoming isn't exactly the easiest environment on gear like hearing aids.

barbb | @barbb | Dec 28, 2020

@jaema Hi! Too bad you aren't in NY where a staff member not only has hearing loss, but is a member of HLAA. Could your audiologist be of any help with resources? You aren't near any Center that deals with hearing loss? You do have a big workload, what with coping with people on the job and then having to do all the research. Do you know about Katherine Bouton's latest book (her 2nd one) on hearing loss? She has a wealth of information and presents it in a relaxed, almost entertaining way - very clear-cut.

lucyg | @lucyg | Dec 28, 2020

In reply to @jaema "Do you find that your brain is working overtime just to navigate the very basics of..." + (show)

Hi, @jaema For sure! I really agree with 'your brain is working overtime..." and it is truly exhausting. My most challenging experience was going to school in France where I heard non-stop French. I am an anglophone.

Meditation helped tremendously. A yogi taught me to meditate the summer before I went to France. Lunch break was for 2 hours. - Siesta time. So, daily, after eating lunch at school, I went home and did 20 minutes of meditation and then had the energy to keep going for the rest of the day. Even now, when I am in stressful hearing situations and too much information is coming my way, a 20 minute meditation break gives me the strength and energy to keep on going.

@julie04 My earliest aid was a 3" x 3 " or there about box strapped on my chest with a long wire going to my right ear. Really fashionable as an 7 year old with a humongous box sticking out of your dress. Thank heavens audio technology has improved light years now! I am glad a CI has been working for you with your Widex aids.

Julie, Volunteer Mentor | @julieo4 | Dec 28, 2020

In reply to @jaema "Do you find that your brain is working overtime just to navigate the very basics of..." + (show)

What you refer to is 'auditory fatigue'. Of course we spend an incredible amount of energy working to hear and decipher what is being said. Background noise is a monster for all of us. It's very easy to just turn out sometimes....which gives people the impression that we aren't paying attention, don't care, or don't 'get it'. I highly recommend learning and practicing basic stress management techniques. Something as simple as rhythmic breathing can help.

Julie, Volunteer Mentor | @julieo4 | Dec 28, 2020

In reply to @lucyg "Hi, @jaema For sure! I really agree with 'your brain is working overtime..." and it is..." + (show)

I wasn't diagnosed with HL until I was a college student; early 20s. That was in 1962. I missed the 'big box' devices and also shunned the ones I ended up getting. I put off getting them for nearly a decade.

lucyg | @lucyg | Dec 28, 2020

I get it. In those 10 years devices did get a bit better. Being a kid in '62 I did as my parents asked 🙂 Behind the ear aids,tho huge were a fantastic update! Sorry about that decade where you put off getting them. It is a psychological struggle to accept all this.