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Am I unprofessional because of the colour of my hearing aids?!

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@Zebras you remember the look of my ? They are (selfmade) zebra-style and I still love them. Meanwhile even my silicone earmolds are a mixture of black and transparent. I like them being eye-catchers. Even though I am male.

Your hearing aids and moulds are fine.

Surely when someone chooses to have colourful hearing aids and ear moulds or chooses to decorate their aids in anyway they want, then that should be that individual’s choice and no business of anyone else.

What you have chosen in the colour of your aids and moulds may be a reflection of your personality or simply a fashion statement in much the same way as people choose what glasses frames they have.

In reply to @Zebras

I think what looks “professional” will differ by the profession itself and the office environment you’d be working in.

Your current hearing aids might be perfectly, professionally appropriate in some environments, and I don’t want to discount that.

If the job you’re going for is a very “buttoned up” corporate culture, then there might be safer choices in terms of colors. Think about what would be most subdued and something that wouldn’t draw a lot of attention. Matching the color of your hair would be a very safe bet.

I want to be clear that I’m trying to answer your question about what would look most professional. Yes, as some have pointed out, it might be discriminatory for a corporation not to hire you because you need hearing aids and the ones you wear are colorful. I’m not saying whether a corporation should or shouldn’t (or would or wouldn’t) hire you for your hearing aids.

Others have mentioned that hearing aids are like glasses, jewelry, etc - fashion accessories. If we go that route, then there are certain eye wear styles that would be more appropriate in some corporate environments than others and people should make their choices accordingly based on the company and the expectations for employees there.

I wish you the best of success as you consider reentering the workforce. If you do love your hearing aids and the creativity and fun they express, I’d reinforce the message from other posters to look for companies where you and your hearing aids would both be a perfect fit!

Chris

I’m glad I’m retired. I wear whatever the heck I want! :slight_smile:

image

Got rid of my coloured ear hooks, feel a bit more professional now. Will ask for different kind of ear moulds next time as well.

I echo what cnicklo said.
I agree that it would largely depend on your profession and what is expected of you, both by the company and it’s customers. There are many companies that frown upon the wearing of certain jewellery for example and they are reasonably expected to change or remove such jewellery during working hours. Likewise with tattoos, they are expected to cover them up. I guess it would be no different with “wild” ear gear. I know people who have at least two different pairs of moulds/aids/eargear (spandex)/tubing - one for work and one for their own free time where they can wear what they like. Reasonable enough I guess.

It’s actually pink according to Phonak rather then red. Phonak call it Vanity Pink.

Edited

I think the whole idea of “professional attire” (often uncomfortable) is sort of a facinating cultural construct. A lot of it seems like a method of defending class structures. I try hard to silence the little voice in my head that has been trained to judge what people wear for that reason.

The idea that people might think your colourful hearing aids are “unprofessional” gives me a deep quiet anger.

For me it’s a question of do you want to be a member of the team (fit in) or do you want to stand out? Choosing attire to show your individuality is a fine thing, but it also appears to be an effort to stand out from the crowd (and be different from the team) The idea of it defending class structures likely has some credence, but I think the idea of “fitting in” and not making waves applies to any group you want to be a part of. If I wanted to infiltrate any kind of group, I’d study it and try to dress, talk and act like any member of the group. Let’s flip it. Some places have very casual workplace cultures. How long do you think somebody would last if they showed up everyday in business suit and tie? Do you think they’d be seen as a member of the team?

I worked over 50 years for so many different companies that team work was just that working together it was never about what we wore. I was raised to believe that team work was just that working together, not that we all had to look a like. I get,so upset today with uniforms for school kids, hell let kids be kids.

I see a lot of people saying we shouldn’t judge others by what they wear, but I think we are kidding ourselves. We choose what we wear so that people WILL judge us a certain way.
I was a punk rocker in my teens. Combat boots, torn jeans, raggedy t-shirt under an unbuttoned, untucked collared shirt, black leather motorcycle jacket, long feathered earring, and purple hair. I use to get angry when people saw me coming and crossed the street. But eventually I realized that I was wearing this outfit specifically to get attention. (I have a favorite joke these days; when I see a kid dressed like this I refer to it as the “uniform of individuality”.)
When I got out of the military I toned things down considerably, and nowadays I have a reputation as the best dressed technician in my group. That too is deliberate. I currently wear slacks, buttoned, collared shirt tucked in with undershirt, hair trimmed short and neat, beard trimmed short and neat. I wear boots due to the nature of my work, but they are solid black. I’m communicating something different than I was in my teens. I can’t say that I’m communicating conformity because everyone else is wearing jeans and t-shirts. Maybe I’m trying to communicate seriousness. I take everything I do seriously, and people know that about me.
Therefore, my hearing aids are black. Really no other color would do for me. My favorite color is blue, and I did think about blue aids, but decided black was really the only way to go. Blue hearing aids would communicate something different than a blue dress shirt does.
All that being said, as someone pointed out, women have a little more freedom here, and colored hearing aids can be a positive fashion statement. But two colors does indicate to me a certain playfulness. The question is; is that a bad thing?
I have always loved Zebra’s hearing aids, but they would never be a good fit for me.
Zebra, it all really boils down to, what do you want to communicate to those around you? If proffesionalism is what you want to communicate, than those hearing aids may not be the right choice. But if it says something about your personality that you want people to know about you, then stick with it.

It can also be used to see what kind of reaction it gets. I remember an interview with a flamboyantly dressed gay manager. I’m sure one of the bits of info that he wanted from interviewing me was if his dress elicited any response. (I was hired)
As an aside, I’d venture to say that any of us on the forum could be triggered by some form of attire.

I love that we are having a civilized and thoughtful discussion here, representing multiple points of view. Thank you to everyone. What a great community we have!

Depends very much on the ‘corporate’ culture. I think it would be very difficult for anyone to call you out on it as I think it could be seen to be discriminatory.

That said, adhering to dress codes is part of certain jobs. It’s similar to wearing lairy coloured spectacles, non-natural hair colours and so on. Some professions are traditional - law, medicine, finance and you’re expected to ‘conform’.

I think if you have a uniform colour either side, you’ll be fine (no mixing and matching). Changing the ear hook was a sensible move.

My job has a black polo shirt, black trousers and shoes as the uniform (I’m in IT). At the interview I wore a suit. Always dress ‘one level up’ at an interview. It won’t hurt to do so.

In reply to @z10user2

@z10user2 said:

Well said. But I can’t help but judge seeing guys with their pants hanging off their butts.

I once saw a guy at school get his knee caught in the crotch of his baggy pants and fall flat on his face. I like to take that memory out sometimes and laugh at it and then put it away again. :rofl:

But at the end of the day, what bearing does that have on his competance in other areas of his life? I think he was on full scholarship for engineering at the time. I see those sorts of pants and make certain judgements about the guy’s intelligence and character, but only because I have been trained to do so.

Mostly these days I think of our clothing as various types of casts, restricting our movement and reducing our health. Dress shoes in particular still seem like some sort of foot binding, especially for women. Pants that prevent you from squatting, jackets that prevent you from reaching your arms over your head. I suppose they all go well with our chairs that mold us into two 90 degree angles. I used to feel a sort of outrage at seeing people out and about in jogging pants because it was gauche according to my upper middle class ancestors, but I have trained myself out of it. I mostly just think people should be comfortable now.

In reply to #2

OK, I’ll be brutally honest. It had never occured to me to wear hearing aids as decorative baubles, but I find the idea quite fetching!

So, I’m a geezer and ear decorations are not my forte. But I would have no trouble dealing with a person who was doing it. I CAN imagine situations where people might find it off-putting, but it wouldn’t bother me if my doctor sported such things. I’m glad to see the day where we try to hide hearing aids completely is fading into memory.

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