Hearing aids and work

[GillyA]

Hi, I started using hearing aids earlier in the year (moderate to severe loss, with profound at the highest frequencies). I’m only in my mid 50s and have close to 10 years working left.

As with a lot of office workers I’m now spending an awful lot of time on MS teams. I’m really struggling with headphones, the cheap ones they issue are really uncomfortable with behind the ear aids.

Can anyone suggest a model that works well with behind the ear? There are limits on what we can use - no blue tooth and I’m not sure if T loops will do. Also has to be wired and with a jack. It’s all making it complicated……

I’d really appreciate any suggestions.

[Happyrosie]

as I understand legislation, your office needs to make accommodation for your hearing issue. Have you a Human Resources or as we used to call it Personnel department?

[GillyA in reply to Happyrosie]

Hi, yes they are pretty good at providing reasonable adjustments, but it’s better to go to them knowing what’s needed, especially when it’s anything technical, rather than ways of doing things.

[Happyrosie in reply to GillyA]

Ah yes that does seem sensible - I hope someone has some ideas!

[surreycccfan]

Hi, my hearing aids have bluetooth so I connect these to my PC/Phone for video calls. If your hearing aids do not have bluetooth capability then you could talk to your audiologist about using a streamer device (this is different from streaming via bluetooth). I rarely use headphones with my hearing aids as not comfortable but an option that may be worth looking at is a jawbone headset which may be more comfortable than over ear headphones (my work paid for these ones for me uk.shokz.com/products/openc... but others available). As Happyrosie says in regards to reasonable adjustments (as per 2010 Equality Act) maybe it is worth seeing if they will supply you a device which has bluetooth capabilities to give you some expanded flexability on options open to you.

[TinnitusUKPat Partner]

Just a general comment, I think emphasizing the issue of hearing loss (with tinnitus as a key part of the difficulties which are being had) will place any discussion over adjustments firmly in the protected characteristics space, which is what reasonable adjustments can be made for.

For many people here, I feel as though tinnitus is likely to be the main problem they identify but it may not translate to people who are unfamiliar with it - a communication difficulty or hurdle stemming from hearing loss might be easier to grasp for an occupational health or HR professional.

[daverussell in reply to TinnitusUKPat]

This is spot on. In my recent experience when I emphasised hearing loss and noise sensitivity, I got a much better response. My tinnitus was treated as just a minor nuisance although, the spikes were what caused the most amount of stress. GillyA don't think of it as your tinnitus being ignored, you just have to play the game.

[PABLR]

I would go to somewhere like a best buy and try different models. I found that any headset that completely covers my ears worked well. If you can go with a product number or two etc to HR they should (hopefully) get them for you. Even the same style of headphone varies from model to model and maker to maker so it's well worth knowing exactly what you want.

[Graham-E]

Hi I totally understand your problem and one I face. I tend to have 3 solutions to get me through the day but to be honest, I could do with something better.

1) I pick up on my phone as my HAs are Bluetooth and connected to my phone only.

2) I put the call on speaker and listen which works as I mainly have my office to myself.

3) I take one HA out and put in a in-ear headphone. Or take them both out and put over the ears headphones. This option I like the least because when someone comes I I need to swap back to my HAs to hear the conversation.

I’ve often thought a sign on the door saying “No thanks, not today” would just be so helpful at work. 🤣

So I sort of make do but would like a better option too. Hope this helps.

Best G