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Hearing Impaired in the
Workplace
by: Chris Hampton
Being hearing impaired can be a real challenge in the workplace. The
biggest problem is that few understand the problem, and usually the
person with the hearing impairment is hesitative to admit the fact.
When in one on one situation things may be just fine, especially there
is little background noise. In a crowd situation the hearing impaired
person may hear, but not understand, 50% or more of what is said. It can
be very frustrating in meetings etc.
Sound is made up of Frequency and Volume measured in decibels. In the
ear that sound is converted to electrical impulses to the brain. Many
things can happen to keep the sound from reaching the brain.
Say some one says the letter “A”. That “A” is made of the frequency
determined by that person’s voice box and the loudness that he speaks.
That sound goes out into the room and mixes with the noise in the room.
A person with normal hearing in both ears has little problem
understanding the letter “A”.
But a person that has hearing in one ear only, cannot determine where
that sound comes from. And the brain has to work twice as hard to
process that sound.
It is a matter of information. With two ears twice the information
available to the brain.
Same with someone that has a hearing loss the percentage of hearing
loss, for whatever reason, reduces the amount of information available
to the brain to process.
A normal ear may process the sound of the letter “A” with this much
information, 0110110110011011 to the brain while the damaged ear may
only send this much, ------11011---------, so the brain has to look for
more clues as to what that information really represents.
If you will notice a person with hearing loss does everything possible
to gather clues or information to help in the hearing process. Some of
the things are:
Looking at your face or lips while you talk.
Turning their head so that the good ear is facing the speaker
Cupping the ear with the hand
Remember even a hearing aid does not work as well as a normal
functioning ear.
I hope this helps you understand what the loss of hearing really is.
Chris Hampton -Arizona Acoustic Art -
http://www.azaart.com.
About The Author
Chris Hampton has 25 years experience in the sound and vibration
industry and being hearing impaired knows the importance of sound and
noise control and conditioning.
SHHH member www.hearingloss.org
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