Breaking down Barriers. Challenges and Strategies of Hearing-Impaired Individuals in Remote Work.

The shift to remote work has opened new opportunities for employees but has also increased reliance on digital audio communication tools, posing unique challenges for individuals with hearing impairments. These workers depend heavily on visual cues and often face stigmatization, leading to exclusion and inequality. This short paper applies Organizational Discontinuity Theory (ODT) to examine the challenges faced by hearing-impaired individuals in remote work and the strategies to mitigate these barriers. Using an inductive, exploratory approach informed by grounded theory, we conducted six interviews with remote employees experiencing varying degrees of hearing loss. To enrich our findings, we also analyzed Reddit posts from individuals who are deaf. Our analysis identifies ten key discontinuities and several continuities that help address these challenges. This research contributes to the extension of ODT and offers practical insights for organizations striving to foster more inclusive and accessible virtual work environments for employees with hearing impairments.