Tinnitus and Work

Has anyone had difficulty doing their job because of T. I work in a doctors' office and I am having a hard time hearing what the patients and my coworkers are saying. I'm afraid my supervisors are going to notice and feel that I am not able to preform my job. Is there a point where T becomes a 'disability'?

 

I have trouble at school when I sub. The tinnitus is more pronounced and it's a great distraction trying to deal with kids when I have to hear out of one ear. The acoustics in the room sounds strange. I got a masking hearing aid that filters white noise and that seems to balance out the sounds.

 

I wear my Starkey Xeno hearing aid for 8 hours a day. Monday to Friday. I want to get use to the hissing sound until it becomes background noise. And it's starting to do that. It sounds like my mother's hissing radiators in the winter. I feel all the schools have steam radiators! I went to audiologist and the hearing aid was changed to a lower hissing sound. If I'm outdoors I can't hear it or when I'm in a busy store I think I lost it! The audiologist said my hearing aid is slightly amplified to even out my hearing. I have three settings for different volume so mask the tinnitus loudness. I think it's a neat little gadget!

 

I've been at a new position just over two months now (very grateful for the job). Not only is that in itself stressful, but the office is SOOOO quiet, making a bad T day all the more pronounced. When it's slow I find myself at a loss at what to do next; being new I definitely want to appear productive. More stress; T more pronounced. A vicious circle. It's all I can do not to take inappropriate breaks and walk around outside for distraction. The T really ramps up on my drive home. Hoping this is just a bad phase, one that will dissapate over the next few weeks. I remember work stress when my T first became chronic; I think it was a big factor in prolonging epsodes lasting weeks on end. I thought I knew better by now how to deal with it. We'll see...

 

That's the crazy part... my mentor and coworker, a very nice young woman who shares many of the same duties, says background music or noise is really frowned upon by the manager, whose office is only ten or fifteen feet away. When I'm busy and focused, I'm fine. But when it's slow, as Mr. New Guy I'm continuously looking for tasks to productively fill the time, which means stress ramping up and more pronounced T. Earphones won't due, as we communicate and coordinate accross the office informally, plus use the phone. Nothing to do but keep moving forward hoping that the tonal intensity will decrease in the coming days or weeks as I become more comfortable. Thanks.

 

I wish I had the chance of working in a quiet environment like some of you. I can't work with people or in noisy places. Talking and trying to listen to people, on the whole workplace and traffic noises make me anxious and anxiety leads to worsening of T. For more than 5 years I haven't been able to find a job in a quiet place maybe that's because I don't have anybody influential to pull a few strings for me. I'm not sure about your conditions, guys but mine surely is a hidden disability. Some years ago I used to teach EFL. I remember my ears sometimes couldn't perceive consonants such as T, S, P and similar unvoiced sounds in some English words. It's plain and simple why that happens to me. I have high frequency hearing loss and T noises like screeching, hissing, ringing, sizzling,.... which make it hard for to hear sounds like T, S, H, CH, SH in an environment like language teaching classes. Will God Save Our Souls? I doubt it.

 

Does that mean you don't work at all? I so wish I had that option.

 

Yes Paul, I cannot live in a noisy, overcrowded and hectic city like Tehran, let alone work and prosper. I described why above. My only capital for having a decent life was my health which was taken away. And now, broke and nervous wrecked, I just try to keep up appearances as I hate to look like nuts.

 

I don't know, Mahdi...in my opinion Tinnitus pales in comparison to the many tragedies and pitfalls that befall us over a lifetime of ups and downs. I believe that giving up, or rather, giving in, allowing T to be the precursor of all thought or actions in a person's life, offers it power well beyond the actual physical manifestations of the condition itself. Life goes on, with or without the T. My focus has to be on coping mechanisms to get me through, not on the condition itself or the many causes therein.