Nursing School with Hearing Loss

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Hello everyone!

I am currently a senior in HS, and I've been contemplating entering a nursing program in California. However, I have severe hearing loss and I don't know how difficult it will make nursing school for me.

I cannot hear out of my left ear, and I wear a hearing aid on my right ear. In general, I can converse with people if they are facing me, even if they have an accent or a mustache. My hearing loss has not impacted my academic performance in HS (3.9 GPA), but throughout HS, I became aware of certain things that I couldn't do. For example, I was unable to do the blood pressure unit in physiology because I couldn't use the stethoscope.

Moreover, I am not someone who handles stress very well. I am very aware that nursing school will be highly competitive and stressful, especially in California. Just how stressful is it? I am willing to study a lot.

Should I pursue nursing? Or would you recommend entering another medical career? Either way, I would love to stay in the medical field because I want to help others and I am interested in human anatomy.

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There are revolutionary changes in hearing aids and cochlear implants. I wear hearing aids for deafness in my right ear. The microphone aide in my right ear transmits to the aide in my left ear. My "good" left ear hears what my right ear is missing.

There are stethoscopes for hearing impaired people.

All of these can be very expensive, but worth it. I've been told Costco has good prices for hearing aids. I don't work for, nor own stock in, Costco.?

Nursing school is competitive to get into, NOT competitive once you're in the nursing program. I hope you understand the difference?

"Don't handle stress well" is a very broad statement. You need to narrow down what stresses you the most. I love the saying, "if you can keep calm when others are stressed out......you probably don't understand what is going on". Many times feeling stressed is an appropriate reaction!

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Specializes in ICU/community health/school nursing.
13 hours ago, brownbook said:

There are revolutionary changes in hearing aids and cochlear implants. I wear hearing aids for deafness in my right ear. The microphone aide in my right ear transmits to the aide in my left ear. My "good" left ear hears what my right ear is missing.

There are stethoscopes for hearing impaired people.

That is so cool!!

And yes, my old (and older) doc had a stethoscope that worked with his hearing aids.

OP - don't pick a career because it might/might not be more or less difficult than another career. You will need reasonable accommodation for your disability.

Ruby Jane Junior is in her first year of college and I told her not to be a nurse, but to go ahead and try for med school. But that's because of the workload of nursing and my belief in her abilities (she's way smarter than I am). Best of luck.

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Hi Cindy,

I have hearing loss in my right ear and I'm in nursing school, which wouldn't have been possible for me 20 years ago when I was your age. Lucky for you, technology has come a long way and there are a number of amplifying stethoscopes you can use to help you out in your career in nursing!

I also have a nurse friend who has hearing loss in both ears but is able to be successful in her career because she uses an electronic blood pressure cuff instead of a stethoscope.

If this is your passion- don't let anything hold you back. As far as how you get stressed, learn what makes you stressed out so you can try to decrease these instances. For example, I tend to get stressed out if I don't feel I'm organized- so I make lists and it helps me to relax right away.

Good luck!

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On 8/27/2019 at 10:29 PM, brownbook said:

There are revolutionary changes in hearing aids and cochlear implants. I wear hearing aids for deafness in my right ear. The microphone aide in my right ear transmits to the aide in my left ear. My "good" left ear hears what my right ear is missing.

There are stethoscopes for hearing impaired people.

All of these can be very expensive, but worth it. I've been told Costco has good prices for hearing aids. I don't work for, nor own stock in, Costco.?

Nursing school is competitive to get into, NOT competitive once you're in the nursing program. I hope you understand the difference?

"Don't handle stress well" is a very broad statement. You need to narrow down what stresses you the most. I love the saying, "if you can keep calm when others are stressed out......you probably don't understand what is going on". Many times feeling stressed is an appropriate reaction!

I apologize for replying so late, but I just wanted to say that your response helped push me to apply for a prenursing major. It was really nice to hear about your story and made me felt less alone in this matter.

I recently made an appointment with my audiologist to discuss upgrading my hearing aid to a new one, so hopefully, that will improve my hearing.

Thank you so much for the response! It really did help me.

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On 11/13/2019 at 3:40 PM, SkychicktoRN said:

Hi Cindy,

I have hearing loss in my right ear and I'm in nursing school, which wouldn't have been possible for me 20 years ago when I was your age. Lucky for you, technology has come a long way and there are a number of amplifying stethoscopes you can use to help you out in your career in nursing!

I also have a nurse friend who has hearing loss in both ears but is able to be successful in her career because she uses an electronic blood pressure cuff instead of a stethoscope.

If this is your passion- don't let anything hold you back. As far as how you get stressed, learn what makes you stressed out so you can try to decrease these instances. For example, I tend to get stressed out if I don't feel I'm organized- so I make lists and it helps me to relax right away.

Good luck!

Hello! Thank you for getting back to me! It is really reassuring to know that people with hearing loss are still successful in nursing. With that being said, I just wanted to let you know that I decided to pursue a prenursing major and that I applied to four CSU's with a nursing program.

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Specializes in Med-surg, telemetry, oncology, rehab, LTC, ALF.

So I've worked with several nurses with hearing loss.

One was totally deaf, with bilateral implants for both of her ears. She had a special stethoscope that she used to listen to heart and lung sounds, and take VS. I'm not sure what type of stethoscope this was or where she got it from, or if it was simply an addition that fitted a regular stethoscope. But I noticed it several times when working with her. There were a couple of communication/work hiccups... (not hearing/noticing others talking unless she was looking right at them, and not hearing/noticing bed alarms going off even if they were right next to her). I'm not sure how much of this was related to her hearing loss and how much of it was just pure, hey, I'm not going to do anything about that bed alarm, type of attitude.

However, I also work with a nurse who has some degree of hearing loss (but is not totally deaf to my knowledge) and he also has implants. There are no deficits as far as I can tell. He has zero issues with communication or job performance, and he often hears bed alarms go off before I do.

I personally have mild hearing loss. I went deaf in one ear temporarily several years ago, and now I cannot hear certain tones in both ears. I also have tinnitus, which can interfere with my hearing. Aside from not hearing very quiet voices (my coworkers sometimes have to say my name twice before I respond) I have no deficits. I've never had a problem listening to heart/lung sounds or taking BPs.

I think it depends on the nurse, honestly. If you have a great attitude about it and have a few extra tools to help you along (whether that's implants or a special stethoscope) then I think you'll do great. Keep your sense of humor during the journey.

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Specializes in med/surg/tele/neuro/rehab/corrections.

While I was being precepted in an urgent care, the nurse there told me that they had an electronic stethoscope! It came in a box and you could adjust it to your needs. It was great and could be used for the hearing impaired and you could see the reading of the heart rate as well.

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Following this thread! :)

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