Medical Have a Question About a Potential Disability

[Question]

Hi all! I was recently accepted to medical school and while I’m ecstatic, I’m a little worried. I’m completely deaf in my left ear (congenital sensorineural hearing loss). However, I can hear perfectly out of my right ear. I’ve never really considered myself to have a disability because I’ve done pretty well, and it’s really not noticeable most of the time (sometimes I have problems with source localization or when people talk really softly). Other than that people are usually shocked when I tell them I’m partially deaf. I hold conversations really well, and even over Zoom, all my med school interviews went really well with no issues, like having to ask people to repeat what they said multiple times. While doing clinical volunteering, I was able to take manual blood pressures decently well and hear heart and breath sounds. But I’m worried this might be an issue for med school, as I’m sure the hospital is much louder and could make things difficult, both with maybe hearing patients or doing things like blood pressures and auscultation.

So basically I’m wondering a few things: (1) Are there other deaf medical students, and do they make it through med school ok? (2) Is this something I need to disclose to the med school I ultimately matriculate at? (3) Are there any stethoscopes that could maybe help me hear better? Maybe I’m being neurotic but I’ve just been a little anxious thinking about all this. Thanks for any help!

— Experts please respond to this post —

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[Mr.Smile12]

Hi all! I was recently accepted to medical school and while I’m ecstatic, I’m a little worried. I’m completely deaf in my left ear (congenital sensorineural hearing loss). However, I can hear perfectly out of my right ear. I’ve never really considered myself to have a disability because I’ve done pretty well, and it’s really not noticeable most of the time (sometimes I have problems with source localization or when people talk really softly). Other than that people are usually shocked when I tell them I’m partially deaf. I hold conversations really well, and even over Zoom, all my med school interviews went really well with no issues, like having to ask people to repeat what they said multiple times. While doing clinical volunteering, I was able to take manual blood pressures decently well and hear heart and breath sounds. But I’m worried this might be an issue for med school, as I’m sure the hospital is much louder and could make things difficult, both with maybe hearing patients or doing things like blood pressures and auscultation.

So basically I’m wondering a few things: (1) Are there other deaf medical students, and do they make it through med school ok? (2) Is this something I need to disclose to the med school I ultimately matriculate at? (3) Are there any stethoscopes that could maybe help me hear better? Maybe I’m being neurotic but I’ve just been a little anxious thinking about all this. Thanks for any help!

— Experts please respond to this post —

First, have you ever asked for accommodations before? It sounds like you might be concerned that you may need accommodations, and there may be situations where you will need some help. I'm certain you are not the only person with some hearing deficits who are physicians.

I would check with the accommodations officer at your own undergraduate institution and the medical school where you have been accepted to figure out the process. You should not be compelled to disclose to faculty, but it would be safe to let the ADA officer know and anticipate any needs for accommodations should it be necessary.

 

[Goro]

My school has had a completely deaf student. He's now an attending.

 

[gyngyn]

Hearing, even in one ear, should meet the Technical Standards at any school.

 

[TheBoneDoctah]

If you feel you may need accommodations at all for school, would let them know sooner than later. As far as physicians, there are many docs with hearing deficits.

 

[MusicDOc124]

Congrats on your acceptance. As stated above, there are deaf (partially and completely) medical students and doctors our there. There are stethoscopes out there that are electronic to amplify and record sound. Good luck in your endeavors!

 

[TheBoneDoctah]

I haven’t asked for accommodations before. The only thing I’ve done unofficially is to ask some professors to sit near the front of the classroom sometimes.

Which is reasonable for sure.

 

[GoSpursGo]

There’s almost no reason NOT to reach out to ADA officer early on. Better to let it be known early in case you need accommodations vs falling behind and then trying to catch up

 

[PerioDont]

There’s almost no reason NOT to reach out to ADA officer early on. Better to let it be known early in case you need accommodations vs falling behind and then trying to catch up

Agreed. Let them know early and you should be fine!

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Which is reasonable for sure.

It's definitely one thing to adjust yourself, but it may be another to ask the professor to speak more slowly, say due to a heavy accent (been there) or softer voice volume. We can't always just yell at our profs, "Can you speak louder!?"

 

[MusicDOc124]

I want to add that this should absolutely be known as well. The boards have questions sometimes with audio built into questions. Having accommodations/the condition known will be the basis for requesting accommodations with NBME/NBOME so that you don't unfairly get certain questions that may be difficult or impossible to answer given this particularly issue.

Good luck!