I'm hearing-impaired...
 

... and apparently it has been hurting my in my officiating these last few years.

I was told by one of my buddies, who has become good friends with a lot of coaches in this area, that coaches are trying to ask me questions a lot of times but it would seem like I'm ignoring them which pisses them off more, making me look bad.

Is anyone else hearing-impaired, whether wearing hearing-aids (like me) or not? For some reason I have no problems hearing coaches request time-outs but any other time they try to get my attention in a loud gym I can't hear them and just assume they're *****ing about something.

Any suggestions or comments about this? My buddy told me to just tell the coaches in the pre-game that I am hearing impaired so if it seems like I'm ignoring them, I'm most likely not and just can't hear them. I don't really like to tell coaches I'm hearing-impaired for the risk that they may try to say something "bad" to me in hope I wouldn't hear them. It has happened before and I would T up a coach (or yellow/red card them in soccer) and they would just be like "you heard that but can't hear me when I was trying to get your attention earlier"...

I'm not hearing impaired, so I can't offer any thoughts from my personal experience. But it seems to me that you might get that particular comment from an irate coach after giving a T, whether you tell him/her that you're hearing impaired or not. (Since you've already said that you sometimes don't hear questions from the bench.)

If it were me, I think I would try telling the coaches and see what kind of effect it had on game interactions, if any. I'd be really interested in finding out what you decide and how it works out. Good Luck.

Sh!t, just tell 'em you forgot your hearing aid. :D

Seriously though, it's no excuse for the coaches. My JuCo conference has a deaf official on staff.

As a coach in a former life, I'd say mention it up front and then at least they know to deal with it. As long as you're hearing impaired for both coaches, they should have nothing to complain about.

So you're saying he should hear it both ways?

While I've not been either legally or medically declared to have impairment, I know I have some residual from a condition affecting my L ear. How I've overcome this personally is to have more active vision both the direct and peripheral (sp).

I also think part of what might help me is how I personally run the sideline. In my HS ball days, I say that like I'm older than I really am...sheesh, when I was taught to run my lane as a 2/3 on the court, I would run my lane wide and close to the sideline as possible. So aware that could happen, as a ref I try to run a bit wider which brings me closer to the coaches and their bench from time to time. So I could see the coaches taking advantage of that habit from me as well, either positive or negative.

:snicker:

I'll Be Here All Week Folks ...
 

"Hear it at both ends."

I thank you all for your comments (and jokes that were all funny). I have a JH game coming up in two weeks, I will try the approaching method where I would tell the coaches, either before the pregame meeting or during the pregame meeting, just to see how that comes along. Thanks again!

It is a terrible thing to see and have no vision (Helen Keller)
 

Do it during the pregame meeting so that the captains are aware of it also.

We have a deaf official on our local board. He's a great guy, and an excellent official. I have had the pleasure of working with him many times. Because I don't sign, the toughest part is our pregame officials conference. After that it's a breeze, with me coming out of each game a better official because I tend to work on my signals and eye contact with my partner.

He always has me tell the coaches and captains in the pregame conference that he's hearing impaired. I always finish the meeting telling the coaches to be sure to direct any yelling that they may do in the game to my partner rather than me. My partner knows that I always say this and follows up with a "yes" nod to both coaches and by pointing to his chest.