Job in Underwriting & Phone Calls with Tinnitus

I have been out of work longer than I would like due to layoffs. After applying to many jobs, for some reason, it seems that May is when companies are hiring. I have two options and have to make a quick decision. One is an industry that has to do with the import/export of goods. The other is commercial Underwriting. For both jobs, I would enter at an assistant level with the chance to improve. I have some indirect experience with both fields.

I am very afraid of phone use and its impact on my condition. I have very loud tinnitus from my family shooting firearms recreationally when I was younger, and didn't know any better, a couple of concerts when I was in high school and didn't know any better because the danger is always concealed by our culture, and being in a car crash with multiple airbags which made it impossible to sleep for a month. That was when I first joined the forum.

Unfortunately, I will have to work both these potential jobs in the office, thus using a phone adjacent to my ear. The import/export job may only require a phone call a week. I have not heard very reassuring things about being able to use phones safely, with some saying working in a call center made their tinnitus much much worse. I never put anything with a speaker close to my ear and always have hearing protection. I wanted to know if anyone who knows about underwriting can explain phone usage since I have found on some job discussion boards that some underwriters are often on the phone. The underwriter job will pay 25% more.

I check a couple of times a year for a cure to tinnitus, but it seems as likely as being able to throw a marble into a thimble from 100 feet away. I was hoping for one of the inner ear-administered drugs to work, which we had been hoping for a couple of years ago, but it looks like they are dead. I don't want to do anything to worsen it because I cannot survive that.

 

Are you able to use the phone with hearing protection?

 

I have to be able to listen in. My only option would be with headphones, unfortunately. Using hearing protection would be a problem.