Make workplace communication easier with these hearing loss-friendly tools.
Whether you’re working in a traditional office, home office, or another work setting, hearing loss can present unique communication challenges. However, plenty of modern hearing loss devices and technology for work can make workplace communication easier, no matter the environment.
When it comes to workplace hearing loss tools to communicate with coworkers or clients, here are a few great options:
- Internal chatroom tools
- Captioned telephones
- Bluetooth hearing aids + streaming
- Hearing assistive devices
- Video call software with subtitles
Learn more about these hearing loss devices and technology for work below.
Internal chatroom tools
Many companies already use Slack or another internal tool to facilitate real-time text-based communication among individuals and teams. This chatroom tool is a great technology for people with hearing loss, as everything appears in written form for easy reading. If there’s an in-person or video team meeting, you can ask the meeting head to arrange for the important highlights to be shared in the relevant chatroom (or via email) after it’s over. Having a dedicated note-taker to share meeting summaries helps refresh everyone’s memories.
Captioned telephones
A captioned telephone can be a game-changing hearing loss device and technology if you work a job that relies on traditional phone calls. Available in several models, CapTel phones provide conversation captioning so that you can read along with what the other person is saying. All CapTel models allow you to turn captioning on or off at any time, so you can use the captions only when you need to. In addition to captioning, CapTel phones also have tone and amplification control to personalize sound levels for your preferences.
Learn more about captioned phones for hearing loss in our FAQ article.
Bluetooth® hearing aids + streaming
If you have a pair of Bluetooth-compatible hearing aids, they open doors to have phone calls, videos, and other audio streamed directly to your devices. For instance, if there’s a video presentation during a work meeting, they could set up dual Bluetooth mode on the streaming computer, so the audio simultaneously goes to an external speaker and your hearing aid. Or, if you’re on a phone call with a client, connect the phone to your hearing aid for a clearer conversation.
Hearing assistive devices
Beyond hearing aids, there are other hearing loss devices called hearing assistive technology. Examples of these devices are hearing loops and infrared systems. With hearing loops (or induction loops), your workplace could set up a wire system in meeting rooms, allowing employees to tune into the telecoil system via a hearing aid or loop receiver/headphone. Infrared systems are similar, transmitting sound via infrared light waves (like TV). For personal conversations, assistive listening devices help filter out background noise and tune into speech more effectively when communicating one-on-one or in small groups.
Video call software with subtitles
As more people work remotely than ever before, more company meetings are held by video calls. Zoom, which is currently one of the most popular virtual meeting platforms, has closed-captioning functionality that the meeting administrator can enable captions for your meeting. Skype offers live subtitles as a hearing loss technology as well. Read more tips for virtual meetings with hearing loss in our article here.
We hope these hearing loss devices and technology for work make your day-to-day go smoothly! To learn more about CapTel captioned telephones for people with hearing loss, visit our website or call (800) 233-9130.
