Being Forced to Use Headphones at Work? Help?

Hey I’m not entirely sure where to post this but I have the following problem:
I just got hired to work at a grocery store and I was told I would have to do computer training today with headphones. I told the hiring manager that I feel uncomfortable with them since I have a health condition - tinnitus. She was extremely condescending and said “Well then you might have to be trained at a different store dear because this is all we have here and I’m very busy.” I’m supposed to go to the store in two hours what should I do?

 

I am sorry to hear that you have encountered such an uncaring person. I believe in Karma so don't worry.... It reads on your Avatar, cause of tinnitus is TMJ? if this is the case then headphones should not cause you any harm. However, if your tinnitus is Noise induced then I advise not to use headphones even at low volume. Some people with Noise induced tinnitus are not adversely affected by headphone use but I advise caution.

It is your choice if you decide to try using the headphones and see how you feel.
Best of luck

Michael

 

So I did training at a big box retailer and they also wanted me to use headphones too... so I just didn't. I turned the volume off on my computer and I just watched the videos and stuff. It worked for me. You could also bring headphones and pretend to use them but just turn the volume all the way down so sound isn't playing into your ears.

 

@Michael Leigh my cousin is a DJ with noise induced tinnitus that started 10 years ago and he never stopped with loud music and gaming, he never experienced a change in his tinnitus which is weird to me is that normal 10 years later?

 

Honestly this is something that concerns me too - the prospect of being mandated to use a headpiece or earphones at work even if it's an office role because I fear it would lead to a spike. Have you been to your doctor to see whether they can possibly give you written proof of your condition? I don't feel I have anything terribly constructive to add but I sympathise with you and think this is a very real concern for many of us with tinnitus and/or hyperacusis.

 

Each person is different. your cousin has been fortunate you may not be so lucky using headphones if your Tinnitus is noise induced and you use headphones...

 

How did it go?

 

It went fine. On the phone the hiring manager was quite rude, but in person she was calm and allowed me to just watch the videos without headphones and it wasn't a big deal at all! Glad I stood up for myself and I will continue to do so.

 

Good for you. For some training, various instructions might come through the headphones. Then you would need a workaround to complete the training.

 

Silicone earplugs under the headphones

Also your bosses are victims of the same wage slavery you are, they are systemically prevented from viewing you as a real person, you are just a number based on store productivity

Capitalism is a lot easier to navigate with this in mind. All mercenaries, no friends, take no prisoners

 

Yeah and you also might get hit by a comet tomorrow. By all means continue to waste your time worrying about utterly inconsequential things, from all your posts this is clearly making you super happy and functional in life so seems like a great philosophy!!

 

Now there are more and more jobs where having something plugged to your ears is required. In security, and even waiters wear earpieces now... it must be awful.

 

Why? She'll have to increase the volume until she can hear. Just lower the volume of the headphones: you'll preserve quality of the signal without stressing your hearing apparatus.

It reminds me of the great ideas around "protecting yourself from your cell phone": people were worried about the radiation from their cell phone's antenna, so they devised a bunch of "shields" (it was generally simply an aluminum cap) that they'd wrap around their cell phone's antenna (back in the day when they used to stick out). Of course, this interfered with the signal and the cell phone wouldn't be able to talk to the tower as well as it would without the shield, so the phone's algorithm was to boost the power from the cell phone side, as it interpreted the poor reception as the tower being further away. This resulted in more radiation, poorer reception and of course higher battery drainage.

If you want low volume to hit your ears, just lower the volume. Don't add an obstruction that you'll have to compensate for with a volume increase.

The only use case I can imagine this being useful for is if the lowest volume the user can set is still too high. Possible, but pretty unlikely IMO.

 

this is the same strategy I use to listen to sounds on airplanes: the silicone will cut out ~28db or whatever of everything, including background noise (office hum, airplane engine, whatever). You do then have to increase the volume on the headphones until you can hear it, but because you've radically reduced the relative background noise, a lower actual volume at your eardrum will still allow you to hear the material.

I cannot, comfortably, listen to music on airplanes with no earplugs, even using NC headphones. If I put silicone plugs on under them, no problem.

It seems logical to me that this strategy reduces overall noise exposure by making spoken words discernable at a lower volume at the eardrum level.

If the testing is in a quiet room or other place where background noise isn't an issue, then I don't see why headphones would be a problem in the first place, sound waves are sound waves.

 

Thread begs the question if op experiences true auditory pain/ distress when listening to headphones or if she's dead anxious about *checks notes* "doing a 45 min training module to work at a grocery store while listening to audio at levels that do not affect hearing damage" because forum user DrEarRing53 from tinnitustalk dot com indicated this is a very profound risk, doesn't it

 

The OP didn't mention the existence of problematic background noise, or the requirement to address it.

Except that it adds a filter to the signal which is never "perfect" and has distortion characteristics. If you need to filter out noise, use a filter that targets the noise, rather than something that will bring distortion to the whole spectrum including your useful signal.

Agreed.

Headphones are also often used to prevent others from being bothered by your content. It's not always about you not wanting to hear the "outside world".

 

I was speaking from my own experience doing trainings like this. OP's experience may certainly be different.

I don't find that the created distortion matters much for music/podcasts in the case of using silicone plugs under headphones on planes, nor can I think of a better way to accomplish my end goal here for under five bucks.

If the testing facility is providing some combination of a quiet room and decent headphones, yeah, none of this matters. OP said "what should I do", "silicone earplugs under headphones" is how I personally would skin this cat, as necessary.

 

This thread seems to have gotten quite negative. I wish it hadn't. I was just trying to ask a simple question while under a time crunch. I wish this site wasn't so hostile.

 

What alternative would you implement if you were the king of the world?

 

Are you saying the solution is to increase one's risk of getting worse by ignoring the experience shared by the others, and not learning from other people's mistakes?

That's what debates tend to be like.

 

@pinkrose16

Unfortunately pinkrose some members on his forum are negative to the ninth degree and won't change. They will destroy every ounce of positivity that you have so be careful. Once you know those with a negative mindset give them a wide berth.

 

I apologize for any derail, and am glad your experience was ultimately positive

 

No worries. Thanks for your apology, all the best.

 

Feel free to answer my question.

in
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/chit-chat-and-all-that.35125/
or in
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/my-posting-place.23694/page-493

 

Huh?
I think you smoked too many drugs before the post this time.

 

@PeteJ Are you feeling a little better?