How to Help Deaf Remote Workers

The pandemic has completely turned the way we work on its head. Instead of commuting into the office each morning, many of us simply walk into a designated room in our home to work. While working from home offers more flexibility and freedom for many employees, it can also be a difficult transition for some — especially those with hearing loss.

Because most company meetings take place over the phone or on video instead of in person, it creates communication barriers that make it difficult for those with hearing loss to communicate effectively with their colleagues. As working from home becomes the new normal, finding ways to help deaf remote workers remain involved and feel confident communicating on the job is essential.

To help you create a healthy work-from-home environment, El Dorado Hearing has compiled a few tips for helping deaf remote workers navigate virtual working.

1) Make It Mandatory for Cameras To Be On

At the beginning of the pandemic, most of us turned our cameras on for video calls. However, as we get more comfortable working from home (and more relaxed in our work-from-home attire), many of us may opt to leave our cameras turned off from time to time. However, those with hearing loss often rely on visual cues or reading lips when trying to interpret what is being said. Because of this, your employees must have their cameras turned on for meetings.

2) Send Out (and Follow) a Written Agenda

The larger the conference call, the harder it can be to follow along — especially if multiple participants begin trying to speak over one another. While that can be confusing for anyone on the call, it’s even more frustrating for those that are hard of hearing.

To ensure that every attendee is on the same page throughout the entire call, we recommend sending out a written agenda before the session. This helps everyone understand what is being discussed so they aren’t left out of the conversation, even if there are audio problems. Along with sending it out, follow it instead of going rogue.

3) Enforce a No Interruption Policy

When taking a call virtually, it is much harder to read physical cues from your colleagues indicating that they may jump in to share a thought or ask a question. This may result in multiple attendees attempting to talk over one another, making it difficult to decipher what is being said on the call.

Because you aren’t all in a conference room together, it’s essential to set a no interruption policy to limit how often people are talking over one another. Having employees remain on mute unless speaking can help minimize background noise.

Similarly, most video conferencing software has functionality that allows attendees to virtually raise their hands indicating that they have something to say. This will help keep the call sounding cleaner and easier to understand for those with hearing loss.

4) Record Important Meeting

One of the most effective changes you can make to help deaf remote workers is to record any important meetings they are part of. Even if all of your employees follow the no interruption policy, keep their cameras on, and stick to the agenda, an individual with hearing loss may still struggle to keep up the entire time.

By recording the meeting, they can refer back to a portion of the call they may have missed and need to listen to again — allowing them to turn the volume up to meet their needs.

5) Schedule a Diagnostic Hearing Evaluation

To assist in managing your hearing loss while working from home, we provide complete hearing evaluations at El Dorado Hearing. Our hearing specialists are highly experienced and offer an in-depth hearing assessment to evaluate whether you have hearing loss and the extent to which the loss affects you. Get started by taking our hearing quiz.

We strive to make our hearing offices comfortable where everyone feels welcome. Following your hearing evaluation, we’ll help you find the proper hearing aids to restore your hearing. For personalized hearing testing in Tucson, AZ, make El Dorado Hearing of Tucson first on your list.

If you are ready to regain control of your hearing and improve productivity during the work day, visit us at one of our hearing clinics. Contact us today to set up an appointment with one of our caring and expert hearing specialists!