Hard of Hearing but Hard at Work
Life on the job with a hearing impairment
For as long as I can remember, I’ve had trouble understanding people on the phone. I could hear the sound of their voice, but couldn’t understand the words. As a kid, it caused plenty of frustrated occasions for my family and friends — after all, I could hear “just fine” in person. People would ask me, “Why don’t you learn how to talk on the phone?” I just chalked it up to a missing “phone calls” file when IT Support was installing the basic software in my head. It was only in my late teens that I discovered that I had lost roughly 40% of hearing capacity in both my ears.
Today when I tell people I have a hearing impairment (usually after saying some version of “I’m sorry?”, “Pardon me?”, or “Huh?” several times in a conversation), their immediate reaction is, “Really?!? I would never have guessed!” I can never tell if they’re just being polite.
In any case, I wanted to share a little bit about what it’s like to work in finance while having a hearing impairment. I’m sharing this largely because of two reasons. First, because I always wanted to read about everyday people who had everyday jobs while having a disability, but usually just found articles on celebrities (but here are a couple of brilliant posts by everyday people). And second, because I hope that sharing this will generate some curiosity, start a conversation, and maybe even encourage other professionals to share their own stories.
So why can’t you talk on the phone?
For me, listening to someone speak over the phone is a little bit like how you would hear a voice over a walkie-talkie, minus the crackling. It’s kind of staticky and robotic, and even though I can hear the person speaking, I can’t identify individual words. It gets a lot worse on conference phones, or even if you put the mobile phone on speaker.
What do you do if you can’t talk over the phone?
Normally, I request people if we can have a video call, or I just meet them in person wherever possible. I’m a novice, self-trained lip reader but resort to it enough that just being able to see the speaker’s face solves most of the problem. If neither video nor in-person is possible, I put on my headphones and hope for the best.
At other times though, I’ve used more, shall we say, interesting solutions. I’ve had my dad or my girlfriend sit next to me, listen in on the call, and type out what the other person says as fast as they could on a laptop. I’d read what they type and then respond. I’ve used this for unscheduled calls, calls to customer care numbers, and even — wait for it — phone interviews. In fact, I once unknowingly did this when a company I was interviewing with called to say I got the job. Fun times.
What about life on the job?
I use a hearing aid, which helps a lot. I also have a small remote that lets me control the volume of my hearing aid, which is even better (so if you ever see me fiddling around in my pocket while you’re talking to me, that’s what I’m probably doing).
The problems occur when the speakers are too far away (like in large boardrooms), the location is very noisy (lunch meetings, team dinners), or several people are speaking at once (casual settings, the occasional intense meeting). These situations are mostly beyond my control, and all I can do is try and find a seat close to the main speaker(s). It doesn’t always work, in which case I just have to ask either the speaker or someone close to me to repeat what was said. It kinda sucks to break the flow of a conversation like that, but you gotta do what you gotta do. On conference calls with a lot of participants, I request that at least the main speakers be on a video call, which makes things more manageable.
The trickier aspects are the social situations. Team dinners and casual outings are where you bond with your colleagues, and that’s ironically where I find it most difficult to follow conversations. There’s literally nothing I can do about group conversations in a noisy restaurant (besides proactively asking to select a quiet, boring spot — and I don’t wanna be that guy), so I just try and have one-on-one conversations as much as possible. It sometimes gives me a reputation as a quiet guy, although that opinion usually changes in time (LOL).
Are people always so supportive?
Thankfully, almost always, yes. Nearly everyone is happy and willing to have video calls, repeat themselves, or speak a little louder. But the world isn’t all sunshine and rainbows, and every now and then I meet the occasional outlier who assumes just because I can’t understand them the first time around, I must not be very sharp.
Ironically, these occasional outliers are the ones to whom I credit a lot of who I am today. I never know when I may meet one of them in the course of my job, so I always over-prepare for every meeting. I memorize a lot of the pre-reading materials, facts and figures, arguments and potential counter-arguments, and everything I can find about the person I’m meeting. As a result, if I miss half of a sentence while they speak, I’m often able to piece it together based on what they’re referring to. An extreme example of this trick is when I go for lunch meetings, I go through the restaurant’s menu in advance so that I know if the server will ask me for my preference for the side.
I also try to work hard so I can show my superiors that I can do the job as well as the next person, hearing impaired or not. It makes things easier when I have to ask them to repeat themselves in a rushed meeting.
But wait, what is it that you do?
I recently completed my MBA from the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto, and am now working at Manulife Asset Management as a Senior Analyst, Private Markets. Alongside, I also work on a not-for-profit called the Access to Success Organization, which supports MBA students who have a disability. I’ve previously worked in equity research and private equity, and am also a Chartered Accountant.
I could go on and on, but I figure this is as good a place to stop as any. If this post answered some of your questions, I’m glad. If it made you curious about some other questions, feel free to ask and I’ll try to answer as best as I can. And if it made you want to share your own story, be sure to send me the link when you write it!
Disclaimer: My postings represent my own personal views and are not being made on behalf, nor do they represent the views, of Manulife / John Hancock.
