Can't seem to get your point across? Here's 1 thing we might be missing out
Renyi Yan (IHRP-SP)
OD | Culture, Talent & Leadership Expert | Backyard Astronomer
Cannot seem to get your point across? Sometimes, its also about active listening.
I know a friend who has some degree of hearing loss. She's in her mid-30s and has a slight loss of hearing in one ear. She is not hearing impaired. Her hearing loss does not impact on her quality of life. In fact, far from it! She goes about her work responsibilities without any fuss or complication.
Her colleagues would not be aware of her hearing loss as in her words, its not necessary to share as it has not impacted on her work. In fact she is a top performer in the team.
In Singapore, as more people transition back to the workforce, the nature of conversations and how work is done will evolve. Perhaps another aspect worth considering is how might communications be done inclusively under different environments?
In particular, for people such as my friend and perhaps others who may be suffering from a greater degree of hearing loss - the mental fatigue of managing across office and home environment can be real.
Hearing loss - its more common than you think
The World Health Organisation (WHO) broadly defines hearing loss?as any deficiency in hearing. This may be mild, moderate, severe, or profound, and may affect one or both ears.
Hearing loss can also affect anyone of any age. We often brush off hearing loss as part and parcel of ageing - I remember having to shout in glee when speaking with my grandparents when I was much younger!
But hearing loss is not as uncommon as we think. In the last Singapore Census conducted in 2020, over 21,000 respondents identified as suffering from some degree of hearing disability. This is a more pronounced extent of hearing impairment.
WHO estimates that approximately 466 million people worldwide suffer from hearing loss that is severe enough to be disabling. Closer to home, it is estimated that 360,000, or 1 in 11 Singaporeans have some degree of hearing loss. If we do not already know it, this is a real social consideration.
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How can it affect you
Obviously, hearing loss will negatively impact a person's quality of life, especially when you can't hear your loved ones speak. As social creatures the ability to communicate lies at the heart of how we live and interact with others.
There would also be emotional and psychological implications such as, feelings of social isolation, frustration, shame and low self-esteem. Hearing loss may also impact your ability to do your best at the workplace, such as the loss of work productivity to understand, follow-through and communicate at work.
While office bound employees may not suffer from hearing loss caused by exposure to loud noises such as machinery and construction (a primary cause of noise-induced hearing loss, NHL), the reality is as some organisations shift towards streamlining office real estate space and hybrid work, more open office/hot desking concepts may be introduced.
These collaborative spaces are positive in the spirit of working together. However consider this from the space of an employee who may have some form of hearing loss. Such spaces can engender noise and disruption from active discussions and meeting spaces. The ability to fully focus on these conversations can exert some degree of pressure to 'keep up' and add to the mental strain to do so effectively.
In Singapore, there is no national disability register and it is currently not mandatory for someone to register his or her disability in Singapore. Sharing where we are through data captured in the Singapore census is an important first step in creating awareness for the broader community.
Here's what you can do
There are many people around us who may have minor deficiencies in hearing, i.e. hearing loss and just get on with life, with absolutely no detrimental impact on their day to day lives. For them this is a way of life and may come off as "I can't hear you", or "would you mind repeating that?" As Singapore transitions back into the workplace, how we choose to communicate must also shift. And a key thrust of effective communications is the ability to listen, and listen intently.
Resources to go:
Finally, here's some resources to go.
I would love to hear your thoughts below about other shifts we can all make in the workplace.
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