1. How hearing loss affects the self- perceived job performance and psycho- emotional status of professionals STUDY THAT CONSIDERED COMMUNICATION IN THE WORKPLACE

2.  Most in the study felt that hearing loss  Negatively affected their job performance  Lost their competitive edge  Denied promotions  Most reported that they overcame hearing related difficulties by various means  Determination  Stamina STIGMA WAS NOT EXPERIENCED IN WORKPLACE

3.  Public Law 101-336  Most were unfamiliar with this AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT

4.  “Will do what they have to do to get the job done”  Five factors for optimal work in face of HL  Self Concept  Use of Hearing Assistive technology  Supervisor’s and co-workers perceptions and provision of accommodations  Effective coping strategies  Communication difficulties and problem situations EMERGING THEME OF THE STUDY

5.  Used to be from noisy environments  Construction  Agriculture  Military  Factories  Due to aging Baby Boomers and increase noise in modern life  HL more pervasive  In quieter work environments  Need to function  Meetings  Cubicles  Social obligations  Work related travel WORKFORCE HL CHANGING

6.  HL not as negative a connotation 10- 15 years ago  Face different communication challenges than factory workers INCREASE IN BABY BOOMERS

7.  A trial lawyer  Applied for disability retirement, could not hear nuances of how witnesses responded  A Librarian  Left job because of HL  Could not handle phone work even after the employer attempted to increase volume  Bank collection manager  Passed over for promotion to loan officer COMMENTS OF SOME PARTICIPANTS

8.  70 % divulged in the workplace  Most tell “certain” people  Co-worker or supervisor  Teacher tells parents  Generally agreed that better for clients to know about the HL than to attribute to not paying attention WILLINGNESS TO REVEAL A HEARING LOSS

9.  “I’ll do what I have to do to get the job done.”  Obtain hearing aids  Assistive listening devices  Communication strategies  Working harder than counterparts  Enlisting the help of others  Develop techniques, skills, “work-arounds”  To function without special consideration MAINTAINING A POSITIVE ATTITUDE

10.  To find strategies that minimize communication difficulties  Exploit it, use a teaching tool  Motivate others  Anticipatory Strategies  Go early to conference room  Be over prepared  Use confirmation strategies  Work harder ( it is tiring) doing double duty SELF RESPONSIBILITY

11.  Women’s voices  Foreign accents  Group meetings  Certain office environments  Teleconferences EMAIL EASIER THAN TELEPHONE

12.  Conversational fluency  How smoothly conversation unfolds and is related to  The amount of time in repairing communication breakdowns  Ease in which with which information and ideas are exchanged  Sharing of speaking time among communication partners

13.  Communication Strategies  Lipreading  Information and services related to care and use of hearing aids  Having supervisors or co-workers attend a workshop? AURAL REHABILITATION SERVICES

14. Professionals with Hearing Loss: Maintaining That Competitive Edge. Nancy Tye-Murray, Jacqueline L. Spry, and Elizabeth Mauze. Ear and Hearing, Vol. 30, No. 4, 475-484. REFERENCE