Extremely loud work colleague.

[Hollyhobbi]

Any advice on this problem I will have at work next month? My work colleague has been out on sick leave for a number of months. She’ll be coming back into the office in August. My problem is I’m partially deaf and wear hearing aids in both ears. Now that wouldn’t be a problem normally but this colleague is just so loud! She talks loudly, laughs loudly. To be honest I don’t know how she gets any work done as she is constantly talking! I can mute or take out my hearing aids but then I won’t be able to hear people properly on the phone or talking to me! Hearing aids amplify every single sound which is not usually that much of a problem but when someone sitting beside you is literally shouting all the time it’s a huge problem. Help!

Can you ask a manager for her to be sat elsewhere ?

There isn’t anywhere else she could sit, unfortunately.

Oh dear OP, it’s a tough one, isn’t it. I have one foghorn colleague, who laughs inappropriately after almost everything she says and whose conversations (sensitive topics) can be overheard by everyone in the building, including visitors.
She sits to my right. To my left sits someone who sounds very similar to a Barbara Windsor character and talks through everything she is doing as she does it.
It’s incredibly wearing. I have some loop earplugs, which help a little, but I would be really distressed in your situation.
Would it be worth having a quiet word with your boss?

I don’t know what my boss could do? There are no spare desks in the office. She was only sitting beside me for about two weeks when she went on sick leave so it wasn’t a problem for very long initially.

I think you can ask for a reasonable adjustment due to the hearing aids and tell your boss honestly how sitting next to this colleague will affect you.

Definitely speak to your kind manager about this - you need to flag that there’s an issue, then they need to consider how to solve it.