Questions and Answers about Deafness and Hearing Impairments in the Workplace and the Americans with Disabilities Act

9. What type of reasonable accommodations may employees with hearing disabilities need?

Some employees may need one or more of the following accommodations:

• a sign language interpreter

  Example 7: Simon has a hearing disability and works as a project manager for a regional telephone company. Simon is usually able to use his lip reading ability to communicate individually with his co-workers. However, Simon occasionally requests a sign language interpreter for large-group conferences and meetings, because it is not possible for him to use lip-reading when people who are not in his line of sight are speaking. Simon's employer would have to provide the sign language interpreter as a reasonable accommodation, absent undue hardship. (For more information about "undue hardship," see Question 12, below.)

• assistive technology, including:

  • a TTY, text telephone, voice carry-over telephone, or captioned telephone[23]

  • a video relay service

  • a telephone headset

  • appropriate emergency notification systems (for example, strobe lighting on fire alarms or vibrating pagers)

  • assistive computer software (for example, net meetings, voice recognition software)

    Example 8: Allen, who has a hearing disability, works as an information technology (IT) specialist with a small, Internet-advertising firm. The IT specialist position requires frequent one-on-one meetings with the firm's president. Because it will not cause an undue hardship, the firm accommodates Allen by acquiring voice recognition software for him to use in his meetings with the president. The software is programmed to translate the president's spoken word into written electronic text.

  • assistive listening devices (ALDs)

    Example 9: An employer has an annual all-employee meeting for more than 200 employees. Thelma, who has a severe hearing impairment, requests the use of an ALD in the form of a personal FM system. Speakers would wear small microphones that would transmit amplified sounds directly to a receiver in Thelma's ear. The employer determines that an ALD is a reasonable accommodation that will allow Thelma to participate in the meeting without causing an undue hardship.

  • augmentative communication devices that allow users to communicate orally by typing words that are then translated to sign language or a simulated voice

  • communication access real-time translation (CART), which translates voice into text at real-time speeds

    Example 10: Kendall works as an associate for an international consulting firm. Kendall has a hearing disability for which he uses a hearing aid and lip reading. His company sometimes conducts video-conferencing meetings with clients in other countries. During these meetings, Kendall finds it difficult to participate because some of the clients speak with foreign accents and the video feedback is not continuous. Kendall requests the use of remote CART services to accommodate his hearing disability during international client meetings. The requested accommodation would translate the client's spoken word on Kendall's notebook computer monitor at an almost real-time speed. This accommodation would allow Kendall to participate fully in the meetings and should be provided, absent undue hardship.

• appropriate written memos and notes (especially used for brief, simple, or routine communications)

• work area adjustments (for example, a desk away from a noisy area or near an emergency alarm with strobe lighting)

  Example 11: Ann works as an accountant in a large firm located in a high-rise building in the city. Ann has a large window in her office that faces the street-side of the building. She wears a hearing aid to mitigate her severe hearing impairment. Throughout the workday many exterior noises (for example, police sirens, car horns, and street musicians) are amplified by Ann's hearing aid and interfere with her ability to hear people speaking in her office. Ann requests, and her employer agrees, that moving her to a vacant interior office is a reasonable accommodation without causing an undue hardship.

• time off in the form of accrued paid leave or unpaid leave if paid leave has been exhausted or is unavailable.[24]

  Example 12: Beth is deaf and requests leave as a reasonable accommodation to train a new hearing dog. Hearing dogs assist deaf and hard of hearing individuals by alerting them to a variety of household and workplace sounds such as a telephone ring, door knock or doorbell, alarm clock, buzzer, name call, speaker announcement, and smoke or fire alarm. A hearing dog is trained to make physical contact and direct a person to the source of the sound. Under her employer's leave policy, Beth does not have enough annual or sick leave to cover her requested absence. The employer must provide additional unpaid leave as a reasonable accommodation, absent undue hardship.

• altering an employee's marginal (i.e., non-essential) job functions

  Example 13: Maria, a librarian, is primarily responsible for cataloguing books, writing book summaries, and scheduling book tours. Recently, Maria has had to fill in as a desk librarian since the regular librarian is on vacation. Maria has a severe hearing disability and uses a hearing aid. She finds it difficult to hear patrons if there is any background noise. She asks to switch her front desk duties with another librarian who processes book orders transmitted over the phone or Internet. Since working at the front desk is a minor function of Maria's job, the employer should accommodate the change in job duties, absent undue hardship.

• reassignment to a vacant position

  Example 14: Sonny, a stocking clerk on the floor of a large grocery store, develops Ménière's disease, which produces a loud roaring noise in his ears for long periods of time. It is difficult for him to hear customers and co-workers on the floor because of music and frequent announcements played over the store's public address system and background noise in the store, particularly during busy periods. The store manager tried several unsuccessful accommodations. Upon request, the employer should reassign the employee to a vacant position as a stocking clerk in the warehouse at the same location, absent undue hardship. The employee is qualified for the reassignment position and the warehouse is a quieter environment with fewer background sounds.

• other modifications or adjustments that allow a qualified applicant or employee with a hearing disability to enjoy equal employment opportunities

  Example 15: Manny is hired as a chemist for a pharmaceutical company. He has a hearing disability and communicates primarily through sign language and lip reading. Shortly after he is hired, he is required to attend a two-hour orientation meeting. The meeting includes a brief lecture session followed by a series of video vignettes to illustrate key concepts. To accommodate his hearing disability, Manny requests a seat near the trainer, closed captioning during the video segments, and adequate lighting to allow him to read lips throughout the meeting. Since there is no undue hardship, the employer grants these reasonable accommodations to allow Manny to participate fully during the orientation session.

Although these are some examples of the types of accommodations commonly requested by employees with hearing disabilities, other employees may need different changes or adjustments.[25]  Employers should ask the particular employee requesting an accommodation what he needs that will help him do his job. There also are extensive public and private resources to help employers identify reasonable accommodations. For example, the website for the Job Accommodation Network (JAN) (http://askjan.org/) provides information about many types of accommodations for employees with hearing disabilities.

[23] A text telephone or teletypewriter (TTY) allows a telephone user to send typed messages to another caller and to receive typewritten messages from the caller either directly (if the caller is also using a TTY) or through a telephone relay service (TRS) operator. A voice carry-over telephone allows someone with a hearing impairment to communicate orally over the telephone and to receive text communications from the other caller that are transcribed by a TRS operator. A captioned telephone allows users with hearing impairments to receive communications over the telephone orally while receiving an almost simultaneous text translation.