Jury duty with severe to profound hearing loss

I have similar loss. I was called jury duty and contacted my audiologist about it. She said she had put together a letter that she uses for just such occasions and gave me a copy personalized with my information.

I neever had tio use the letter. I had previously filled out the jury form I was sent and added my age and hearing loss as my reason to be excused. I received a letter a couple of. days latter stating that I was excused.

Unfortunately a lot of people who work for the court system are not very knowledgeable when it comes to hearing loss. Which is why when you say you’re hearing impaired they respond with something like… We can provide headphones. It’s just easier to provide documentation from an audiologist

Oh and there’s nothing about being an enlightened state. If you can’t hear and the courts have no way to really determine how much you can or can’t hear. It’s easier to just excuse a juror and get on with the case, then to continue the trial and possibly be overturned later. Realistically some kind of documentation should be required, preferably once. I’m amazed that states that don’t require documentation get anyone to serve on a jury.

Hi Sir, this sort of situation would not serve justice properly if you are still required to serve jury duty. Best to have a letter from an audiologist to certify your hearing difficulties and is not advisable to serve, despite the fact that hearing aids help you hear. Aids are NOT the same as normal hearing person. It is NOT possible to hear everything, whether clearly or not, and some words can be misheard to mean something else. Lip-reading is never always reliable. You can also explain to the Court that this could possibly lead to mistrial because one jury member can be taken advantage of and be looked upon as incompetent by the opposing lawyer. I was once called to jury duty and the judge listened to my situation, saw the hearing aids and excused me immediately. Of course you need to explain this, giving examples as needed. I hope you succeed. i would be TERRIBLY surprised if that failed. If all else do not work, then during the court sessions, simply keep asking the counsels to repeat the questions and ask the respondents to repeat. Then the court can see the futility of this jury duty.

Boy I should move to your state. Here everytime I get called I have to get new documentation.

I was called before I realized my hearing was so bad. Didn’t get selected and now I am age to exempt and even with hearing aids I am sure that would also exempt me. This is a good discussion.

I got a letter from my audiologist. I have profound deafness in 1 ear. She wrote that I am unable to understand speech when in a crowded room and they are talking on my deaf side. I called the office for jurors,explained the situation and I was taken off Jury duty permanently. This is in New York. I did serve once and it was a nighmare. I could not understand the lawyers. Kept asking them to repeat the ques. The lawyers got annoyed and asked “what are you deaf” when I said yes I was excused.

It’s interesting to read through this old thread. I was recently called for jury duty, but in Massachusetts, if one is a geezer, one can ask to opt out. I did so because I couldn’t trust that I’d be able to hear competently. I didn’t think it would be fair to the defendant(s) to be “judged” by someone who missed half the proceedings because so much of the discussion sounded like mush. Otherwise, of course, I’d have gladly served. It is a civic duty after all.

Yes. I was given a headset to wear. It was barely adequate and ran out of charge frequently.

Just got my first jury notice since I’ve been wearing hearing aids.
About five years.
Told wife I’m going to go and tell them the truth.
I may are may not understand enough to be
able to accurately render a verdict.
I do not know if they have headphones are not.
I’ll try if they want to.

I have pretty good comp scores but still can’t understand what is being said. Just ask my family. I don’t put much into those scores after seeing how good mine are and how bad I hear hear others

Profound hearing loss and a letter from the audiologist got me exempt every single time. Certainly wouldn’t want someone on the jury who could easily misunderstand or couldn’t hear what’s being said. That’s ridiculous

I was also invited to the jury. There were no invitations to court hearings yet, and I hope that they forgot about me . P.S. My profound hearing loss does not give them any chance.

I had read this thread when I got a jury duty summons a couple of months ago. Based on this info, I asked my audiologist for a letter, but then discovered that Massachusetts requires a letter from an MD. Fortunately, my audiologist is associated with an ENT practice and, equally fortunately, I had seen one of their docs a few months ago about another issue. He was willing to write the letter, which was accepted. In Massachusetts, the letter must also explicitly state that it is a permanent disability…otherwise, they’ll call you again in a couple of years. Massachusetts sends a confirmation that you are excused.

FWIW: Anticipating that I might have to make a case to a judge, I started to record my “mishearings” on a daily basis. It was an eyeopener. I’m much worse than I knew! What I realized is that in daily life, I frequently rely on context, lip reading, or simply asking people to repeat something in order to understand – on a far greater extent than I had realized. It’s my basic MO, and it would not work in a courtroom situation. Not to mention that a group of people having simultaneous conversations – such as might happen in a jury room – completely stresses me out. There is no way I would want someone like me on a jury if I were on trial.