Case Study
Workplace design for a laboratory assistant in a hospital

This is a large hospital with its own laboratory that belongs to a healthcare group.

The woman has a hearing impairment and is hard of hearing. As she is only able to perceive acoustic information (speech and signals) to a very limited extent, she uses hearing aids to amplify it or to understand it acoustically. Acoustic information from distant sources must be converted so that she can perceive it visually. The degree of disability (GdB) is 60.

The woman has been working in shifts as a medical-technical laboratory assistant (MTA) in a hospital for several years.

Workplace and work task
The laboratory assistant operates and monitors several analytical devices in six laboratory rooms. During the analysis process, the analysis devices emit various acoustic signals that indicate errors, faults and the end of the analysis. With the help of her hearing aids, the laboratory assistant could only hear the acoustic signals of the analysis devices in the room in which she was located.
By using a paging system, the acoustic signals of the analysis devices as well as the ring tones of the telephone and door can be sent wirelessly to the employee. Radio transmitters are attached to the relevant devices for this purpose. These pick up the acoustic signal from the analyzer via a microphone and transmit it to a transmitter unit, which then sends it to a small receiver unit. The laboratory assistant carries the receiver unit on her body. The receiving device signals to the laboratory assistant, through vibration and display (optical), which analysis device has emitted the signal.

The co-payment-free hearing aids were subsidized by the statutory health insurance or health insurance company. The other assistive products suitable for disabled people were funded by the Integration or Inclusion Office, with advice provided by the Technical Advisory Service. Advice, measurements and adaptations of the hearing aids were carried out by a specialist hearing aid acoustics store.