I have similar loss. I was called jury duty and contacted my audiologist about it. She said she had put together a letter that she uses for just such occasions and gave me a copy personalized with my information.
I neever had tio use the letter. I had previously filled out the jury form I was sent and added my age and hearing loss as my reason to be excused. I received a letter a couple of. days latter stating that I was excused.
Unfortunately a lot of people who work for the court system are not very knowledgeable when it comes to hearing loss. Which is why when you say youāre hearing impaired they respond with something likeā¦ We can provide headphones. Itās just easier to provide documentation from an audiologist
Oh and thereās nothing about being an enlightened state. If you canāt hear and the courts have no way to really determine how much you can or canāt hear. Itās easier to just excuse a juror and get on with the case, then to continue the trial and possibly be overturned later. Realistically some kind of documentation should be required, preferably once. Iām amazed that states that donāt require documentation get anyone to serve on a jury.
Hi Sir, this sort of situation would not serve justice properly if you are still required to serve jury duty. Best to have a letter from an audiologist to certify your hearing difficulties and is not advisable to serve, despite the fact that hearing aids help you hear. Aids are NOT the same as normal hearing person. It is NOT possible to hear everything, whether clearly or not, and some words can be misheard to mean something else. Lip-reading is never always reliable. You can also explain to the Court that this could possibly lead to mistrial because one jury member can be taken advantage of and be looked upon as incompetent by the opposing lawyer. I was once called to jury duty and the judge listened to my situation, saw the hearing aids and excused me immediately. Of course you need to explain this, giving examples as needed. I hope you succeed. i would be TERRIBLY surprised if that failed. If all else do not work, then during the court sessions, simply keep asking the counsels to repeat the questions and ask the respondents to repeat. Then the court can see the futility of this jury duty.
Im not sure a jurer is allowed to keep asking the lawyers to speak up. But I get your point
I got out of it years agoā¦ I explained I had to lipread and couldnāt track where people were talking from. I also had a written letter from my audiologist.
Boy I should move to your state. Here everytime I get called I have to get new documentation.
I was called before I realized my hearing was so bad. Didnāt get selected and now I am age to exempt and even with hearing aids I am sure that would also exempt me. This is a good discussion.
I got a letter from my audiologist. I have profound deafness in 1 ear. She wrote that I am unable to understand speech when in a crowded room and they are talking on my deaf side. I called the office for jurors,explained the situation and I was taken off Jury duty permanently. This is in New York. I did serve once and it was a nighmare. I could not understand the lawyers. Kept asking them to repeat the ques. The lawyers got annoyed and asked āwhat are you deafā when I said yes I was excused.
Iām late to the party - and a newbie soaking in this new world of fellow hearing impaired - so I apologize for resurrecting an old thread.
I was called to serve for the first time in 2008 - sent a letter to the clerk, was excused, and have never heard from them again. In my letter, with an enclosed Audiogram, I specified that while I do wear hearing aids for everyday conversations, itās nearly impossible to follow conversations in large spaces that do not take place face to face. I also made sure to note that I realized the importance of the service and felt I would most certainly be a liability. Not sure if Iāve been removed from the list, but like I said before, Ive never been called since so they mustāve agreed.
I was excused, but they still insisted that the headphones they provide to the hearing impaired would have been sufficient to serve. I have very unequal loss and donāt do well with headphones for word comprehension. Scary (for the accused) that they would even consider someone with my loss
Itās interesting to read through this old thread. I was recently called for jury duty, but in Massachusetts, if one is a geezer, one can ask to opt out. I did so because I couldnāt trust that Iād be able to hear competently. I didnāt think it would be fair to the defendant(s) to be ājudgedā by someone who missed half the proceedings because so much of the discussion sounded like mush. Otherwise, of course, Iād have gladly served. It is a civic duty after all.
Yes. I was given a headset to wear. It was barely adequate and ran out of charge frequently.
Just got my first jury notice since Iāve been wearing hearing aids.
About five years.
Told wife Iām going to go and tell them the truth.
I may are may not understand enough to be
able to accurately render a verdict.
I do not know if they have headphones are not.
Iāll try if they want to.
I said almost exactly that. They refused to excuse me. I put my hand up each and every time they I couldnāt hear and the process stopped while they messed around with the archaic tech. I left each day tired out from the listening effort.
It is our duty thoughā¦ā¦
My audiogram showed a comprehension score. Say itās 75% - do they really want someone who has to guess what 25% of the words are?
I have served in the past, but after my hearing loss, I sent an audiogram, told them I cannot watch TV and understand what they are saying without closed captions, and I never heard from them again.
I have pretty good comp scores but still canāt understand what is being said. Just ask my family. I donāt put much into those scores after seeing how good mine are and how bad I hear hear others
Profound hearing loss and a letter from the audiologist got me exempt every single time. Certainly wouldnāt want someone on the jury who could easily misunderstand or couldnāt hear whatās being said. Thatās ridiculous
I was also invited to the jury. There were no invitations to court hearings yet, and I hope that they forgot about me 
. P.S. My profound hearing loss does not give them any chance.
I had read this thread when I got a jury duty summons a couple of months ago. Based on this info, I asked my audiologist for a letter, but then discovered that Massachusetts requires a letter from an MD. Fortunately, my audiologist is associated with an ENT practice and, equally fortunately, I had seen one of their docs a few months ago about another issue. He was willing to write the letter, which was accepted. In Massachusetts, the letter must also explicitly state that it is a permanent disabilityā¦otherwise, theyāll call you again in a couple of years. Massachusetts sends a confirmation that you are excused.
FWIW: Anticipating that I might have to make a case to a judge, I started to record my āmishearingsā on a daily basis. It was an eyeopener. Iām much worse than I knew! What I realized is that in daily life, I frequently rely on context, lip reading, or simply asking people to repeat something in order to understand ā on a far greater extent than I had realized. Itās my basic MO, and it would not work in a courtroom situation. Not to mention that a group of people having simultaneous conversations ā such as might happen in a jury room ā completely stresses me out. There is no way I would want someone like me on a jury if I were on trial.