u/takenfromcontext

Hi all :)

I have profound sensorineural hearing loss in my right ear — audiogram shows near-normal hearing in the low frequencies but drops to 100+ dB (essentially no response) by 6-8kHz. Left ear is mild-moderate and fairly stable across frequencies, so it's a pretty asymmetric loss. I also have tinnitus in the right ear.

Got fitted with an Oticon hearing aid (with the Companion app) a few weeks ago. I found the first day pretty overwhelming — background noise amplified more than speech feels clarified. Wondering if this is normal adjustment-period stuff or something I should flag at my next appointment. I've left it in a drawer ever since tbh.

Anyone else start a hearing aid with asymmetric loss + tinnitus - if how long did it take before things felt more balanced and was it worth persevering?

Hi all - like many others i'm in the midst of a pretty uncertain restructure right now. I wasn't 'matched' with my current G7 role, which means I'll be competing with others for it in the next month, and other G7 roles, through expressions of interest.

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In the meantime i've applied for a range of roles at another civil service dept, still being sifted. If I am successful, I'd either need a loan agreement (preference) or to gamble and take a fixed term contract at the other department, in the hope of a job becoming permanent.

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I have made a preliminary request for a loan agreement should I be successful (it goes to a workforce panel), but its hard to predict how that will go.

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I'm only 4 yrs or so into civil service and only ever worked for one dept. I guess other than overall uncertainty venting, my questions are

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1] does anyone have experience of successfully managing an on loan arrangement between two departments, or just being ballsy and taking a fixed term contract for a period at another dept and hoping it works out (24-36 months on ads)?

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2] i'm concerned that if I get a job offer at my current department before I hear about sifting from the other, I would potentially need to accept the role and back out of it. Is there any way of managing this without potentially accepting a role and then backing out of it!

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Thanks