Affiliations: The University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario,
Canada
Note: [] Address for correspondence: Daniel Fok, PhD Candidate, Health
and Rehabilitation Sciences Graduate Program, The University of Western
Ontario, 1201 Western Rd, Elborn College, London, Ontario, Canada, N6G 1H1.
E-mail: [email protected]
Abstract: Demographic and legislative trends suggest that many older workers
may remain at work past the traditional retirement age. This extended work
trajectory poses new challenges and opportunities for workers with acquired
hearing loss as they age. Workplaces require a new approach to enable
transitions of older workers with hearing loss to remain safe and productive. A
review of the literature on older workers, those with hearing loss, and
strategies used to accommodate them suggests that individualized and piecemeal
approaches are predominant. While universal design represents a fresh
ideology that may help create more accessible and usable products and
environments, its application to improve workplaces for older workers with
hearing loss is limited. This paper proposes that occupational science be
integrated with knowledge in hearing sciences, accessibility, and usability to
assist with the transitions faced by older workers with hearing loss. A more
comprehensive approach including the following three key components will be
posited to examine the nexus of aging, hearing loss and work: (1) the use of an
occupational perspective, along with concepts in hearing sciences to examine
hearing demands and improve hearing access; (2) the use of contextual processes
to promote physical and social change, and (3) the inclusion of Universal
Design for Hearing (UDH) considerations as stakeholders develop more hearing
friendly workplaces.
