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Working in restaurant w/ hearing aids

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hi all!! i’m new to this forum but ive been needing some advice !

my names cassie, im 19 and i was born with moderate hearing loss in both ears and wear hearing aids in both ears as well. i’ve been thinking of applying to a restaurant as a waitress and the only thing holding me back is the possibility of not hearing well at all and/or missing things being said, especially when taking orders or during a busy time.

if anyone has experience working in crowded environments w/ hearing loss please lmk of any tips that helped!!

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You can usually find a way to optimize the sound processing of the aids. A noisy, busy environment is one of the most challenging setups, though.

Pay attention, repeat the orders, don’t get frustrated, and don’t let a rude customer ruin your day. Leave your feelings at the door. I’ve had one waitress, maybe late teens or early 20s, that I noticed was wearing 2 aids. We had no problems.

Another time I had a waitress that was deaf. I could stumble my way through enough that she appreciated my effort. The advantage in that case was I could get her attention from across the dining room and we could communicate long distance. That was actually pretty cool.

Any customer service position is going to put you in awkward situations, but I can see you are already figuring out ways to deal with that.

Good for you! Enjoy the new job!

Make sure you discuss this with your audiologist as custom molds or small vented fitting will likely help your hearing aids help you hear in a noisy environment.

Agree with @DrJimmyJoeJimbob.

Another way to make sure if you get the most from hearing aids is doing Real Ear Measurement with them (procedure which includes insertion ~1mm diameter very soft plastic probe microphone with ending placed near the eardrum).

Which hearing aids do you have? What diameter of vents?

I don’t know about your financial possibilities but perhaps consider at least trialing the new hearing aids like Phonak Infinio Sphere 70 or 90, Starkey Edge or newer Omega AI, Oticon Intent or wait to new generation which should be released this week or February 2026 at the latest… etc.

I have the Phonak Sky Lumity L-SP for pediatrics with custom earmolds and 1mm vents (I think). Almost coming up on my warranty to get a new pair so I might consider that possibility!

These are good hearing aids. The vents seems quite all right. If you won’t have much problem with hearing in noise, I would wait for a new generation of Phonak hearing aids probably in Aug 2026.

I’m sure it will work out. The service industry seems so shorthanded places should be happy to find someone eager to work. A friend of mine has trouble finding people, he says, “I don’t ask for much: show up, show up on time, show up on time and be sober”, and he still has problems.

I think you’ll be fine! Let us know how it works out, and also how the whole hearing aid issue works. Someone else might be able to learn from your experiences.

Hi Cassie - Welcome to the forum. Restaurants are extremely challenging. I have a severe loss that only began 7 years ago. I loved going to restaurants, now it’s a challenge because I strain to understand the server or people at my table. The size of the restaurant, height of the ceilings, acoustics of the walls, capacity of patrons all makes a difference. For any given restaurant, the noon service maybe entirely different than 3pm.

When you as a customer visit a restaurant, how well do you understand your server, guests at your table? Now think of yourself as that server taking an order from that “Karen” that hates to repeat herself.

Good Luck!

In reply to @OcramSagev

That’s another thing that I worry about. Pretty much every accent is 10x more difficult for me to process and understand, that’s not even considering a loud environment. But the repeating back to customers does seem to be a good way to communicate back and fourth. Where I live, it depends on the place you go and your server.

My experience was awful trying to work in a noisy restaurant. It was frustrating for me and the customers. It might depend on your hearing loss though.

There are aids that have an accessory that wirelessly directs the person voice directly to your aids and ears. Ask your audiologist.

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