How to deal with ?

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Martin4x4

Original Poster:

6,506 posts

132 months

Tuesday 25th November 2014
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How to deal with a work report that speaks so softly you cannot hear what he is saying even after you asked them _repeatedly_ to speak up?

Foliage

3,861 posts

122 months

Tuesday 25th November 2014
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lack of confidence?

MrPicky

1,233 posts

267 months

Tuesday 25th November 2014
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get an ear trumpet or ask them to write it.

TurricanII

1,516 posts

198 months

Tuesday 25th November 2014
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Are they generally considerate and eager to help? Perhaps tell them that you are hard of hearing/have mild tinnitus and would really appreciate it if they could speak loudly. Ask them to say something in a one to one situation and escalate the volume then tell them when you can hear them properly. Making them think they are helping you out might make the requirement stick in their brain.

Martin4x4

Original Poster:

6,506 posts

132 months

Tuesday 25th November 2014
quotequote all
Foliage said:
lack of confidence?
This could be an aspect of it, but I think it is mostly being quietly spoken.

TurricanII said:
Are they generally considerate and eager to help? Perhaps tell them that you are hard of hearing/have mild tinnitus and would really appreciate it if they could speak loudly. Ask them to say something in a one to one situation and escalate the volume then tell them when you can hear them properly. Making them think they are helping you out might make the requirement stick in their brain.
Yes, I think so. I have asked him to speak up and he does some, but by no means is this loud, but after a few words quickly subsides so that after a few sentences until he is back a very low volume. I'm wary of repeated interrupting for fear undermining him and perhaps making things worse if it is a confidence issue.

Edited by Martin4x4 on Wednesday 26th November 12:54

rog007

5,759 posts

224 months

Tuesday 25th November 2014
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If a key requirement of his role is to be speaking publicly or regularly to groups, then it needs addressing, ideally via coaching and training.

If it's not a requirement of his role and it's just a personal trait, the same as no doubt some others talk too loudly, then let it be and just work around it. Good luck!

Troubleatmill

10,210 posts

159 months

Tuesday 25th November 2014
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Personal development needed.

Ask him to join Toastmasters.

Truckosaurus

11,288 posts

284 months

Wednesday 26th November 2014
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rog007 said:
...If it's not a requirement of his role and it's just a personal trait, the same as no doubt some others talk too loudly, then let it be and just work around it. Good luck!
Indeed. I used to work with a chap who always spoke in a whisper - it must have been a physical issue as he knew he did it and would often apologise when you'd have to come and sit next to him to speak with him rather than just converse from a couple of desks away like you would for a normal colleague.

There was also someone in the same office who would always speak VERY LOUDLY but only when on the telephone, he was much more annoying than the whisperer.

Foliage

3,861 posts

122 months

Wednesday 26th November 2014
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Truckosaurus said:
Indeed. I used to work with a chap who always spoke in a whisper - it must have been a physical issue as he knew he did it and would often apologise when you'd have to come and sit next to him to speak with him rather than just converse from a couple of desks away like you would for a normal colleague.

There was also someone in the same office who would always speak VERY LOUDLY but only when on the telephone, he was much more annoying than the whisperer.
I sometimes have trouble controlling the volume of my voice when I'm bunged up, which sometimes lasts for months, I've taken to speaking too loud rather than mumbling, which is what I used to do in my teens.