Despite safety concerns expressed by a national truck driver training group, federal regulators confirmed on Thursday their exemption of 18 drivers who are deaf or hard of hearing from certain commercial vehicle regulations.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration stated that it had evaluated the applicants’ eligibility “and determined that granting exemptions to these individuals would likely achieve a level of safety that is equivalent to, or greater than, the level that would be achieved by complying with” federal regulations.
The two-year exemptions expire on Dec. 22, 2024.
However, the Commercial Vehicle Training Association (CVTA), members of which train over 100,000 drivers annually, argued that FMCSA had provided no “comprehensive understanding” of its reasoning for the exemptions, as well as for exemptions renewed earlier this year to 40 deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals who had received initial exemptions in 2013.
Without such understanding, “our members are not able to provide a consistent standard without sacrificing safety or opening themselves up to liability,” CVTA asserted.
Federal regulations state that a person is physically qualified to drive a commercial motor vehicle if that person “first perceives a forced whispered voice in the better ear at not less than five feet with or without the use of a hearing aid or, if tested by use of an audiometric device, does not have an average hearing loss in the better ear greater than 40 decibels at 500 Hz, 1,000 Hz, and 2,000 Hz with or without a hearing aid when the audiometric device is calibrated to American National Standard.”
In renewing the 40 existing exemptions, FMCSA “provided little to no relevant data other than noting that they ‘searched for crash and violation data’ and ‘driving records from the State Driver’s Licensing Agency’ when making the decision,” CVTA stated. “The agency did not articulate a satisfactory explanation of why this data was relevant” when determining if the exemptions would likely achieve an equivalent or greater level of safety, the group added.
“Therefore, although CVTA fully supports the FMCSA’s mission to promote inclusivity and provide reasonable accommodations, it is the opinion of the association that not enough research has been made available to the public on this matter and the Agency has not been transparent with their standards of how exemptions are granted or extended. We request additional research, public data, and guidance on this matter.”
In responding, FMCSA countered that CVTA “has not provided any data showing that drivers who are hard of hearing or deaf are at increased crash risk.”
It pointed out that training of deaf or hard-of-hearing drivers is beyond the scope of medical exemptions and is not evidence that it should not grant hearing standard exemptions.
“FMCSA notes there are CDL training schools that have successfully trained deaf and hard of hearing drivers and state driver’s licensing agencies have found ways to conduct CDL skills tests for such individuals,” the agency stated. “FMCSA believes that it is not necessary for FMCSA to ‘provide a consistent standard’ for training and testing activities when considering an application for an exemption from the hearing standard.”
The agency also emphasized that its hearing exemptions are based on “relevant medical information and literature” and a 2008 report that reached two conclusions regarding the matter of hearing loss and CMV driver safety:
- No studies were identified showing a relationship between hearing loss and crash risk exclusively among CMV drivers.
- Evidence from studies of the private driver’s license holder population does not support the contention that those with hearing impairment are at an increased risk for a crash.
Dave
Been in trucking on and off since 1975, trucks are noisy, drivers do not need hear a whisper as is nonsensical just capable of hearing a alarm, with visual alarm indicators there is no reason a hearing impaired not fully deaf licensee could not adequately operate as they also tend to be more visually aware for surroundings. I wear aids as my mechanic career damaged my hearing, I have a CDL where take offense that hearing loss causes accidents by any stretch of the imagination.
Andy
I’m very hard of hearing and been driving truck for a little over 20yrs. I’ve never had an accident and have a clean driving record. I’ve hauled livestock and driven over the road. I’d say it’s time to get with the times. If they’re issuing a CDL to foreigners that can’t speak English, how’s that any different than being deaf if you can’t understand what they’re saying?
Randall R. Kniess
Hearing loss can happen to anyone. It is not the end of the world, but it can be a devastating experience. I lost hearing severely in my left ear about 10 years ago. When it began, I first noticed a ringing (tinitus) in my ear. Then I was hearing a sort of sound echo like a tiny speaker in my left ear. There were times when I would get so dizzy that I had to pull over and lay down to stop the world from spinning. There was nothing like driving a semi and feeling like the seat had suddenly lost all the bolts holding it to the floor.
I feared that I had a brain tumor or was suffering from a heart condition. The last time it occurred, I had stopped at a small truckstop and literally staggered like a drunk to the edge of the building. I held on tightly because I thought that I would fall down. Had a police officer saw me, he would have arrested me for a possible DWI or OWI.
After that incident I went and got my ears checked out. I had severe hearing loss in my left ear. My hearing loss has never gotten any better, but at least the dizziness has not returned. How it happened, I can only think of past jobs that involved loud noises, military service, or a virus or as a result of a certain medication.
DOT physicals have been a problem though. The forced whisper part is a joke, even with those who are supposedly trained to do it. That test is not done scientifically because it is based on the testers idea of what is considered a “forced” whisper. I once had a doctor who “forced” whispered so quietly, that had she been 6 inches away, a person would have had a hard time understanding her saying “Green Pickle”. And that with your best ear! Besides that, if you were sitting in your semi and going down the road, could you hear a forced whisper coming from your bunk? Of course not. Now have your radio playing with a headset for you phone on your ear and you are basically deaf to normal conversation.
Horns, beeps, sirens, and squealing tires are distinguishable. But humans and animals have the amazing ability to compensate for hearing loss. Eyesight and eye movements are the most important elements of driving a big rig. If you can’t see, you don’t move. Even a child wouldn’t move or ride a bicycle if blindfolded. That is just commonsense.
The biggest danger to a hard of hearing driver is what happens when he gets out of his cab. On a dock or factory floor, crossing a parking lot or a street is where there is greater danger. That is where we as fellow drivers or workers have to learn to be courteous and aware. Hearing ability should not be a general rule, but based on individual judgement and testing by real audiologists, not on whims and experiments performed by cubicle sitters with little to no experience driving a big rig. When they say studies have shown, I say prove your theory, they usually won’t.
Randall R. Kniess
Hearing loss can happen to anyone. It is not the end of the world, but it can be a devastating experience. I lost hearing severely in my left ear about 10 years ago. When it began, I first noticed a ringing (tinitus) in my ear. Then I was hearing a sort of sound echo like a tiny speaker in my left ear. There were times when I would get so dizzy that I had to pull over and lay down to stop the world from spinning. There was nothing driving a semi and feeling like the seat had suddenly lost all the bolts holding it to the floor.
I feared that I had a brain tumor or was suffering from a heart condition. The last time it occurred, I had stopped at a small truckstop and literally staggered like a drunk to the edge of the building.
After that incident I went and got my ears checked out. I had severe hearing loss. My hearing loss has never gotten any better, but at least the dizziness has not returned. DOT physicals have been a problem though. The forced whisper part is a joke, even with those who are supposedly trained to do it. That test is not done scientifically because it is based on the testers idea of what is considered a “forced” whisper. I had a doctor who “forced” whispered so quietly that had been 6 inches away, a person would have had a hard time understanding her saying “Green Pickle”. Besides that, if you were sitting in your semi and going down the road, could you hear a forced whisper coming from your bunk? Of course not. Now have your radio playing with a headset for you phone on your ear and you are basically deaf to normal conversation.
Horns, beeps, sirens, and squealing tires are distinguishable. But humans and animals have the amazing ability to compensate for hearing loss. Eyesight and eye movements are the most important elements of driving a big rig. If you can’t see, you don’t move. Even a child wouldn’t move or ride a bicycle if blindfolded.
The biggest danger to a hard of hearing driver is what happens when he gets out of his cab. On a dock or factory floor, crossing a parking lot or a street is where there is greater danger. That is where we as fellow drivers or workers have to learn to be courteous and aware. It should not be a general rule, but based on individual judgement and testing by real audiologists, not on whims and experiments performed by cubicle sitters with little to no experience driving a big rig.
James McCoy
I’ve got hearing loss due to the truck driving industry that has little or no insulation between the cab & engine yet it hasn’t stopped my ability to drive cause it’s more sight than sound. I do have a dominant ear that recently saved my job of 35 yrs. Now; if I were blind then there’s a problem.
Jeff
I’m Hard of Hearing. I’ve been driving over the road over 45 years as the company driver. I never had any incidents in past 45 years over the road. I’ve done over 4 million miles…
Charlie Lynagh
Hey I’m hard of hearing. I been driving over the road 33 years with no accident. I’m owner operator truck driver. I do lot of safety. I put 3.5 million miles.
Roger Graves
I say this is Discrimination against us Older Drivers.#2
If The State of Texas would given us A chance to Really get Fit instead of A Couple of Months.State of Texas said they would be changing the requirements but didn’t say when until it was June of 2022 .