As an employer, there are some easy things to do to help people with hearing loss thrive in the workplace. You should consult ADA requirements, but here are our best tips to facilitate excellent communication with someone who is hard of hearing:
During the interview
While job interviews are nerve-wracking for most people, they can be especially difficult for people with hearing loss. Aside from being concerned about presenting their knowledge, skill set and qualifications well, people with hearing loss also must worry about whether they will be able to adequately hear in an interview and how much they should talk about being hard of hearing.
As an employer, you can do your best to anticipate what someone with hearing loss needs to make the interview go more smoothly and to put someone with hearing loss at ease. And if someone with hearing loss discloses this fact prior to the interview, you can ask him or her what you can do to help him or her have a successful interview experience.
Here are some tips:
- Disclose upfront how many people will be interviewing the candidate. An individual with hearing loss might do well if it is a one-on-one situation, but if more than one interviewer will be in the room, he or she may need adjustments, such as a round table to have visual access to everyone’s faces, or an assistive listening device such as a personal amplifier.
- If more than one person will be interviewing the candidate, make sure not to talk over each other.
- Ask the same questions you would ask any candidate – focus on the applicant’s abilities.
- If the applicant has not disclosed his or her hearing loss – even if it seems obvious to you – refrain from asking specific questions about it.
- Choose an interview location that has minimal background noise, such as one in a low foot-traffic area, away from the kitchen and distant from the hum of printers and copiers.
- Keep eye contact and don’t cover your mouth. An individual with hearing loss often uses speechreading to supplement his or her hearing, which involves watching your lips move and seeing gestures and facial expressions.
- Have a notepad handy to write down key phrases or the topic when you change conversation.
- Keep your speech at normal volume – just speak a bit more slowly than usual. It’s not necessary to shout or slow down too much, which can distort your voice.
- Make sure there is light on your face and not behind you.
- Check in with the candidate frequently to make sure he or she has understood what you said.
- Be patient and calm – interviews make the majority of people nervous, and feeling anxious can distract someone with hearing loss from speechreading or hearing as well as he or she normally would.
Accommodations
When discussing accommodations with the applicant/employee, rather than asking “Can you do this?” instead ask “Will you need an accommodation to do this task?” Reasonable accommodations are required by law, and they’re a win-win situation: The employee is fully integrated into the workplace, and the employer benefits from making minor accommodations to keep an excellent worker.
Here are some possible accommodations to discuss:
- CapTel captioned telephones: These display word-for-word captions of everything the caller says on a display screen, allowing employees with hearing loss to both hear and read the conversation so as not to miss a word. The FCC provides a free captioning service for those with hearing loss.
- Desk arrangement: The employee with hearing loss can be accommodated by arranging his or her desk in an area with maximum lighting and minimal background noise.
- Real-time captioning: This service is great for meetings, allowing a person with hearing loss to read captions of the meeting on a large screen so he or she doesn’t miss a thing.
- Communication strategies: Hold brief meetings to educate employees on the best way to communicate with someone with hearing loss in order to maintain friendly office relations and avoid confusion.
