“I get hooked up to the tunes of the diesel motor at work and get the feel of the air suspension tunes,” Doane says. “That is my music.” Changes in vibrations from the truck can warn deaf drivers of flat tires and airbrake issues, the DTU reports, changes that hearing drivers don’t always identify. Some research indicates that deaf drivers may have better peripheral vision, not that Doane relies on that. “I become an owl where my neck moves to the farthest left and to the farthest right,” he says.
Between the cell phone ringing, the radio blaring and the CB crackling, today’s truck driver is distracted. Cruising at 60 miles an hour, a truck driver that takes two seconds to look down to change a music CD has traveled 176 feet blindly – a distraction that could cost lives. Deaf drivers don’t have those distractions, which potentially makes them safer drivers.
A hearing advocate of DTU, Greg Newman, wondered how much of his driving ability was dependent on hearing. He decided to conduct an experiment. He drove 500 miles while wearing earplugs, “just to get an idea of what these folks deal with.” He admits it’s not the most scientific experiment, blocking his hearing by about 80 percent, but he gained a new appreciation for the deaf and hard of hearing. “I caught myself driving slower, checking my mirrors more often, watching my gauges more closely,” he says. “All in all I felt I was being more cautious. These folks do all of this naturally.”
Newman’s rudimentary experiment reinforces the results of a 2008 study requested by the FMCSA regarding hearing loss and commercial motor vehicle safety. The study was unable to produce any clear connection between auditory disabilities and crash risks.
Even in the auto insurance industry, deaf drivers pay the same premiums as their hearing counterparts because “evidence from studies of the private driver license holder population does not support the contention that individuals with hearing impairment are at an increased risk for a crash.” The FMCSA also recognizes this is not a matter of driving expertise, saying the issue is the physical qualification is hearing and not the actual driving skills of deaf drivers.
The National Association of the Deaf (NAD), which advocates in all industries for the deaf and hard of hearing, affirms that communication in trucking is no longer hindered by hearing loss because of the increased use of technology like Qualcomm and smartphones. Scott Friede, a deaf driver from Nebraska, points out that driving the truck is not his biggest challenge as a deaf driver. The vehicle inspections with verbal instructions and weigh stations without lights are the obstacles that block his path.
The FMCSA law affects both deaf and hard-of-hearing drivers. The difference between being deaf and hard of hearing can often be confusing to the hearing community. Dean DeRusso, a deaf systems advocate at the Regional Center for Independent Living in Rochester, N.Y., champions policy issues affecting the deaf and hard of hearing.
“Hard-of-hearing people [sometimes] call themselves a ‘person with mild to moderate hearing loss,'” he explains. “Most of the time, the hard of hearing feel that they are not deaf due to their dependence on being able to hear and speak. The hard of hearing also look at deaf people as people who depend on their eyes.” Because of these distinctions, there can be a separation between the “people who are born deaf or have hearing loss in their lifetime.” But both groups are fighting for the same rights.
The FMCSA treats the deaf differently as well as the mute. Federal law requires drivers to be able to speak English, while states’ laws do not. Since many deaf truck drivers are unable to speak, but can read and write in English, they cannot obtain a federal commercial driver’s license, putting them in the same category as a foreign truck driver. Some drivers can wear hearing aids that allow them to pass the hearing test, even if they can’t understand the words. The ability to communicate is less important than the ability to hear a hushed whisper. Deaf and hard-of-hearing drivers who want to try out a hearing aid must pay for it themselves. And the suggestion of cochlear implants is insensitive to deaf drivers.
DeRusso explains that cochlear implants do not have a high success rate and even those drivers who have implants can’t always hear above the noise of the cab. More importantly, he says, it’s “not fair to the deaf person [to feel] that they have to go under the knife to get a job.”
According to the FMCSA, the exemption request by NAD is the first of its kind. “Prior to the National Association of the Deaf’s application for exemptions from the hearing standard, FMCSA had not received any requests for regulatory relief from the rule,” a FMCSA spokesperson says. “The agency welcomes the opportunity to address this issue through the notice-and-comment exemption process and looks forward to issuing a decision on the matter later this year.”
The FMCSA has allowed exemptions in the past. It wasn’t long ago that drivers with insulin-dependent diabetes were prohibited from driving commercial vehicles. Now diabetic truck drivers can file for an exemption every two years. It stands to reason that deaf drivers should be able to do the same.
by Amanda Jakl
