Occupational Health Work Place Adjustments for Tinnitus

[surreycccfan]

Hi All,

There is a lot of information about sound exposure in the workplace (HSE hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg362.htm) but there is not a lot of information about adjustments that could be made for Tinnitus. With that in mind I was wondering if any of you have made any successful adjustments at work either in conjunction with Occupational Health or on your own. I use jawbone headset, take regular breaks and use speaker phones. Would be great to hear of any adjustments you have made to make it easier to work with your Tinnitus.

Many thanks

John

[Gouher]

Hi, was wondering if the bone conduction headsets make your tinitus worse. I am also looking for a solution as really can't stand anything over my ears. Are they comfortable, which ones do you use. It's a major worry for me 're work as more and more meetings are online. I used to work in labs but have had to totally change career direction due to sensitivity to blue noise.

[surreycccfan in reply to Gouher]

I used a basic pair of Aftershokz , as with everything with T it depends on what gives you comfort and/or what 'spikes' your T. I prefered ambient external noise (the noise of the office) so by using the the Aftershokz I could hear my call and still have ambient noise. The sound quality is obviously no where near the same as using over ear headphones and if the noise in the office becomes too loud I have to move to a quiter space but essentially when I first had my T I found I could cope better with calls (as I now live well with my T I am back to noise cancelling headphones). You can get a discount on Aftershokz from the BTA here tinnitus.org.uk/aftershokz

Hope this helps

[daverussell]

I left my previous work due them not making adjustments (well they made minimum adjustments provided if it suited them). It was a busy office and I was put on a help desk role. This was not part of my job description, but they said it was expected when starting the role. They wouldn't even let me work from home even part of the week. After I left a few months later COVID hit. Which makes me smile.

My current employer is great - I'm now in education. I have said that I need to try and adjust to some situations, even if they are not ideal. In fact, I don't really have many problems in noisy classrooms anymore. My line manager respects that I try, but also respects its just too much sometimes. I struggle in online meetings mostly. For example, I teach 6 hours, then we have a staff teams meeting straight after my last lesson of the day. I join 10 min late, to allow myself time to relax. Even during the meeting, if the conversation isn't for me I take my headphones off - I can generally follow the live captions and join in for the parts where I'm required or need to be more attentive to the discussion.

[surreycccfan in reply to daverussell]

Thanks for the response and glad your new employer is much more understanding