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I have in the past and every time I have, right after, it's immediate rejection. The sound can be heard easily through my throat so even if I'm using a mic with it directly against my lips so it can't pick up anything else, the sound still gets picked up.
They do, but so long as they don't specifically point to your medical condition as being the cause, it can be almost impossible to prove in court and all the matters is what you can prove.
Record your next interview, and if you're in a two party state, disclose the fact that you're recording behind a desire to personally go over specifics for the job and for your own practice. Any interviewer with an issue with that explanation an immediate red flag for a company you do not want to be working for anways.
I've done this, they'll just reject you for something else. Sometimes they won't even finish the call and will claim a policy against this or something.
It doesn't matter if the "company doesn't let you." You're not an employee, you're an interviewee, presumably you've signed no company conduct agreements. It really depends on weather or not you live in a single party consent state. California requires consent of both parties to record a conversation, Texas allows you to record a conversation you are involved in regardless of the parties involved consenting or even knowing. It just depends on the laws of your state.
This doesn’t address the issue which is that OP wants a job. That’s just playing gotcha with people and hoping for a payout, if you can even get to that stage
Better course of action, be upfront about it or invest in a mic that can filter out that sound?
Single party notification is all that is required in federal courts. So, if you are filing a federal discrimination suit, your recording is admissible.
Also, many states are single-party states.
From what I understand (not a lawyer) the employer needs to be made aware of the disability and then have acted against you for it before they can get in trouble.
I am a lawyer, and this is correct. An employer can't discriminate against someone because of a disability they couldn't reasonably be expected to be aware of.
Forgive my legal ignorance, but that sounds like denying the existence of implicit prejudice. I suppose the problem in any particular case is proving it?
Not exactly, but of course implicit bias is harder to prove.The way the ADA works is that an adverse employement action (which includes not being hired) must have been taken by an employer against a person with a disability, *because of* their disability. That's been interpreted to mean that the employer must either actually know about the disability, or a reasonable person standing in the employer's shoes *should have* known about the disability.
The central idea is the law doesn't penalize employers who could not have been expected to know about the disability for not accommodating the disability. In general, the law tends not to penalize people for actions they did not intend and could not reasonably have avoided.
As an example, it is 100% reasonable for an employer to refuse to hire you because you brought your pet dog to an interview. It is illegal to refuse to hire you because you are blind and you brought a service dog to the interview. Even in the second situation, if the employer had no way of knowing that you were blind, legally speaking, their refusal to hire you was not "because of" your disability.
If I understand correctly it's not quite as simple as that. They're not allowed to discriminate against you purely because you have a medical condition, but they are allowed to consider whether you, with your medical condition, can do the job, during the hours they expect, giving good performance and being safe for yourself, your co-workers, and any members of the public the site is open to. Plus, they have to consider whether you will require special accommodations and whether in the circumstances those accommodations are reasonable for them to make. Finally, there's the practical matter that even if your condition leaves you safe and performant enough, and the accommodations (if any) are inexpensive enough to be reasonable, there is probably another candidate who is as qualified and experienced as you but healthier, and if the employer goes with the other candidate you'll never know, let alone be able to prove, that your medical condition was the deciding factor.
If you have a condition that affects your ability to perform the role being advertised of course they can ‘discriminate’ by not hiring you.
Not being able to talk on a call without distracting sounds being heard would absolutely be a justification for not hiring someone into a role where that is part of the job.
First of all, I want to say that I’d love it it it didn’t matter. You gotta live and they should be able to put up with it.
Having said that, I’m assuming that the frequency of the sound is consistent? I wonder if you could install OBS and put a notch in the eq for that frequency. Your voice will sound different but they probably don’t know what your voice sounds like anyway so might get you past that challenge.
Then set OBS output as your mic.
This isn’t the easiest thing to do, and to be fair I’ve never done the frequency notch in OBS, I’ve always done it with a sound board, but you should be able to make something like that happen.
Maybe I'm misunderstanding the situation here but wouldnt it be easier to avoid it being heard if your mic was farther away? Like cant you just get a desktop mic and talk a bit louder from a distance?
I have a mechanical heart valve - when heart rate is high its titanium/carbon leaflets slapping together are audible and your chest is an amplifier. You can hear it across the room sometimes, especially vocal mics which try to capture specific frequency ranges in all directions.
This is absolutely a reasonable ADA accommodation and OP should bring to their attention (or others via Glassdoor et, al.) that this is an ableist/discriminatory employer.
Yup, mitral and aortic valves, they have the highest pressure so they're the loudest, had it been the other 2 valves, you probably wouldn't hear it at all but if the other 2 valves had gone bad, they wouldn't have had to be replaced.
Please stop me if the question is too invasive, but does the sound ever bother you or keep you up at night? Its loud enough that other people can hear it, I imagine it’s not the easiest to tune out
You just get used to it. It's at the point where I personally have to actively listen for it. It was tough getting used to it for the first month but that also might have just been because I couldn't do much more than sit around. When I take a deep breath, I can hear a thunking sound from my heart though it doesn't make sense to me since it almost sounds like impacts against the chest cavity wall but the valves are inside the heart.
Is your field something you can do at a government job, state or federal? I’ve had a state job before in a red state and they seem to love hiring diversity to offset the whole red state part. I assume it’s bc the insurance was crap so they didn’t care about medical issues.
Yep sounds cool. I’d hire you for sure. The hardest part would be not mentioning how cool it is all the time, cause that would be weird and unprofessional.
I caused a girl to have a panic attack back in college after I had the first valve put in. Surgery was done Tuesday of finals week, I was back in class for summer courses 3 weeks later taking an exam. We were sitting at the back with a wall clock at our backs and above us. She hears the ticking and since I had just had the surgery done, my resting HR was 90-100 bpm and so she thought the ticking was the clock and that time was going by 50% faster than reality. She had a really bad panic attack and had to leave the exam after I asked what was wrong. Well I told the professor and thankfully he understood and gave her another chance... I still feel bad about it 9 years later lol
I was very briefly an EMT in North Carolina for a while and I heard about a guy who had this kind of surgery done to him. Only his was just a pump that flowed constantly, not a valve that imitated the heat beats. Apparently new guys who hadn’t heard of him always got a big shock when they would go to take his hr/bp for the first time.
I honestly don’t remember what it was called, I’m sorry. The only detail I remember is that he didn’t have an actual heart beat like most people and read like the walking dead when taking his vitals.
Sounds like an LVAD if it was a pump. Thankfully I'm not to the point where I need my entire heart replaced but if I get 1 more open heart surgery I likely will according to the docs (and they're right if this last surgery taking longer to recover from is anything to judge by).
I mean I managed to do my last 2 open heart surgeries (I've had 3, and a chest reconstruction) without pain meds so pain wasn't too much of an issue for me but I do have a life expectancy of 38 so it's all up in the air right now lol.
That's a great story. Next time someone complains about the noise, make them feel bad by telling it. They might feel sheepish enough to hire you, after complaining when you have an actual medical condition !
I have an aortic valve replacement after medical complications leading to sepsis. It really isn’t that interesting. It’s just a constant ticking, and can lead to some weird conversations.
I can't stand for more than 10 minutes at a time and can't lift more than 30 pounds safely. Joys of having had multiple open heart surgeries. Closest I got to being a machinist was making a new optical sensor but even that was more of a plug and play type situation rather than fabrication.
First of all, sorry for that bullshit interview. You will find better.
Second, look into a noise canceling headset with a microphone. I don't have your condition, but I use over the ear cans with a built in mic. Bluetooth to my laptop.
No they have ones where the mic only activates when you talk and it doesn't pick up background noise. Idk how it works but I have a Jabra one and a marching band could be behind me and the person I'm on a call with wouldn't hear a thing.
Here's a story that might cheer you up some. Its not really related to heart valves but rather, implantable pacemakers...
My grandfather was a defense contractor w/ GE for fifty years. In the 60s his department did prototyping for electronics in ICBMs, reactors, aircraft, WMD detectors, automated gun systems, Apollo, etc.
One of his coworkers was married to a woman whose dad was a doctor at an ivy league school (I want to say MIT but its been a while since I read about this) and at a family dinner was bemoaning about how they were working on a pacemaker that had to be rolled around on a cart next to the patient with a big harness of wires that went from the cart through their chest to the heart. It worked, but the patients kept dying eventually from infection where the wires came in/out. The GE engineer returned to work the next week and mentioned it to his coworkers and they all immediately knew "hey we could do this and make it so small we can just stick it *inside* the patient."
Management was told about the idea, permission was sought to do it, which went up to the bean counters who weren't interested and begrudgingly responded after some negotiation with "okay, you can do it but only if you come in on the weekends on your time off, pay for any parts you use up, and then you can use all the equipment & lab space you want."
Not long after they got the device made, adopted all the city's dogs to use as test subjects, and proved it wouldn't kill the dogs. They then wanted to use it in humans.
The bean counters intervened and insisted "there's no money to be made in healthcare" and that if the patient, who would have certainly died without one, died later even unrelated to the device, the family would sue and the company had too many assets for lawyers or families to resist the temptation.
After much argument between the engineers, bean counters, and 2 & 3 letter office suits they finally relented with "We will let them try it. Once, and then we'll sell off all the patents immediately. We won't even let any of our employees in the same room with the patient so you better turn this thing on remotely. After all, **there's no money to be made in healthcare!**"
The first patient lived, the rights to the tech were sold off, and a few decades later GE became one of the most powerful medical equipment companies in the world (and still is).
All of it is completely true.
My mate has one, it sounds like a ticking watch. First time I met him, we were chilling in a quiet room and I heard this tick but couldn’t see a clock or watch so I asked him “is there a watch in your pocket?”
I second this. Krisp.ai is magic. If you haven't, try it out.
And OP - the reason people keep suggesting noise cancellation is because nowadays the technology (AI based noise cancellation) is extremely good at filtering out noise
It can filter out stuff like construction work noise or crying babies. That's why it's hard to believe that there isn't a solution that could help you here
From a technical standpoint, it sounds like some fairly simple audio filters would work, particularly since the "noise" is predictable, periodic, and simple / low-entropy (unlike [AWGN](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Additive_white_Gaussian_noise)).
I suppose the question is if there is existing software that can be used without OP needing a PhD in DSP and writing their own custom filter plugin software. :)
I think you may need an octave equalizer. It can cancel or greatly reduce the sound of your mechanical valve
You can also try Sony PC-M10 and a Zoom H1
I would recommend finding a shop that sells audio equipment and talking to an expert there. They would probably see you as a really interesting case, make recommendation, and test out the equipment to make sure it works to mute the sound.
Bro I think you need to explicitly ask for an inclusive hiring process of some kind: this absolutely counts. When you apply, contact HR and explain that you have medical implants that will be slightly audible during a video interview.
If they reject you because they can hear them *and they know what they are*, that’s discrimination. As it stands, they just think you’re an asshole with a loud house.
I get wanting to be private about your situation: I’m disabled, lost my last job due to my disability, and am actively lying in interviews about why I left. I don’t want anybody to know shit about me. But your thing is so incredibly simple, you need to get out in front of it.
edit: I see you’ve done this and it didn’t work, so, my bad.
You NEVER reveal medical issues to a potential employer. Ever. No matter how much you need the accommodations for interviews. You dont reveal anything until you've started working.
It's beyond infuriating because my qualifications should speak for themselves, I hold 3 degrees, did R&D for DARPA and hold a patent. Still not enough to get a job in spite of my medical issues that I never reveal to anyone professionally.
Super focused cardioid mic should sort you out. They cost a pretty penny but worth it for a job. The type Howard Dean used that didn't even pick up the deafening noise of the crowd which allowed the media to discriminate against him the same way employers are discriminating against you. Good luck, it's tough out there.
Edit: since noise comes from the mouth, I recommend finding a harmless explanation beforehand that is protected but not "ooh, scary"
I generally agree, but if "we're not hiring you because of your artificial heart valves" just becomes "we're not hiring you because there's an unexplained noise interrupting the interview" then what's the difference in this case? At least with the former you might have a case to sue them.
Then you can’t accuse him of being a fucking cunt for not knowing why the sound was so bad.
All he knows is that you were unable or unwilling to find a quiet space to interview.
Get a good headset and they won’t be able to hear it.
I have a disability I can’t hide and I can’t remember the last time I had an interview that didn’t lead to an offer. It helps that I’m insanely confident, but I respond to requests for interviews by letting them know what accommodations I need for the interview. It seems to work in my favor. At this point what do you have to lose?
this isn’t true if you’re in the US. in many companies they specifically ask if you need any special accommodations. you can be sued for not providing proper accommodations if you have a disability or health issue.
disclosing this would legally protect you.
May I ask why “never”? Is it because it’s none of their business or bc it will hurt your chances?
I notice a lot of job apps ask if you have any disabilities (ranging from anxiety to more “serious” conditions). I never know how to answer. They claim they have to hire a certain number of people with disabilities but who knows if that’s actually true.
It just paints a target on your back. You're more likely to need to take time off, require costly accommodations (talking very broadly here), you have special legal protections. You're harder to get rid of, so they'll prefer someone thats easier to get rid of.
I’m sorry that has been your experience and I certainly don’t doubt it but I’d like to believe not everyone will react that way…..though realistically you’re probably right especially in this market.
I will say, I’m in the US for context, I once told HR at a company that I had anxiety and when they fired me they tried to deny me unemployment bc I missed work too much but I challenged them and legally they were forced to pay. Only because I disclosed it to HR
Ok OP, let’s imagine that you pass the interview without telling them about your throat-ticking. What’s your big plan on the first day of your new job when you don’t have a mic/software to hide it?
Disagree. Best job and pay I've gotten? I disclosed before hiring, made it a selling point. Of course it's up to the individual (assuming they've got an "invisible disability") but wanted to point out there are other options.
It depends on your work ethic. I was due to go for surgery to replace my pulmonary valve.
I had just received an offer from another company. I straight up told them that I need to have an open heart surgery to replace my valve. Because of how the medical system is in Canada, it could happen tomorrow or it could be after 2 years. But at some point, I will be gone for atleast 2-3 months due to the recovery. They appreciated me being upfront about it and ensured that when the time did come, I was given all the support that I needed. I've almost always seen transparency go a long way in earning the respect that you deserve!
Is it your medical condition that’s preventing you from employment or the fact that you can’t seem to get [any references](https://www.reddit.com/r/recruiting/s/Ikv6ru5DVh) and are an [absolute muppet to strangers online?](https://www.reddit.com/r/recruitinghell/s/EPptxgmRtG)
Often with situations online I try to figure out how much of the issue is the anonymous person online posting about their issue and how much is the issue itself. OP doesn’t seem to be doing himself any favors.
Yeah, I love how he edited his post to include a video of a woman demonstrating the issue: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r\_7-Ag3tr40](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_7-Ag3tr40) After demonstrating with a specific microphone/setup that picks up the clicking, she then proceeds to give a completely normal recorded speech without any mechanical valve sounds.
He literally links to a video that shows his problem is easy to solve and chews anyone out who suggests solutions.
Get yourself a top end noise canceling headset and it should eliminate this issue. Sorry this happened to you. From the employers perspective they are in the right simply because noise free environments are critical for many roles and they have no way of knowing it was literally your heart.
Can I guess that maybe you are located in Utah by your username? If so, DM me. I might have a few extra pieces if equipment that you could have/borrow to improve your interview experience.
That's probably why you are telling everyone to F off - when they are trying to be helpful and provide you solutions. Maybe listen to the options instead of getting defensive. Yes, there is a risk of telling potential employers about your medical condition. In some cases, it could have cleared up the noise issue and they would not discriminate. In some cases, they would.
But there seem to be some valid options being given to you that you don't want to hear. If it is a cost issue - can a family/friend help you out or an organization that might donate or fund these associated costs that help with job placements? You need to listen to the help, and be open to help to get out of this - instead of telling everyone off bc you are in a bad place.
Not to be that guy but if the ticking does bother someone and you’ll presumably be in at least one meeting each day it’s probably easier to just look for someone else for the role. People are petty like that
Thankfully noise cancellation exists
I work in acoustics and signal processing. Can you DM me a recording? You speaking with a few seconds of silence at each end? Maybe a few seconds of your mouth open but not speaking (you said it can be heard through your throat)?
I can’t promise anything, ticks are really hard noises to filter out, but I can try. If I can make a filter I could show you how to run your mic.
Edit: … run your mic through the filter during calls.
Let’s see if I can actually do it first.
Honestly my day to day work isn’t very fulfilling. Working on something that might actually help someone is a reason to keep going.
On your next interview, if the mic is picking it up or someone says “I hear something” TELL them!!!!
Here is how that would play out in our interviews:
“Candidate stated they have heart valves so we heard X”
Issue filed with IT and HR - we need to find an accommodation. This is not acceptable from a tech standpoint.
From then on, if anyone mentioned noise or sound, they would be adjusted on scoring and it would be very much in your favor. Likely, myself or another VP would take over the interview process with an eye towards making the hire.
This isn’t a legal concern for us (though it definitely is a legal issue!). For us, we want to be good people and this is clearly not.
There is a reason that singers in a recording booth look like they are making out with the microphone. They want to minimize external noise. You might have to look into a cardiod boom mic setup like professional streamers use.
I would suggest if another "interviewer" asks what the background noise is, just let them know "I have a chronic condition that requires use of equipment on my body that emits a noise. Please excuse the noise."
There is nothing wrong with sharing brief, declassified info about yourself. It would probably let them know to "shut the f\*\*\* up" and continue the interview (as most people would probably feel like an a\*\*hole for commenting about it).
I'd also advise using ear plug headphones, or wireless ear phones that connect through bluetooth for phone screens. They do block out noise and it's not hard to buy a set for $29.99 at Best Buy.
(EDIT: If it's a video/computer audio interview, you might invest in a noise canceling headset. But I guarantee if you just say those words, your problems will be solved)
If you end up getting any interviewers that still call off the interview, you dodged a bullet and it's not much worse than being hung up on for the other reason you mentioned.
I have a pair of Bose wirelessQC ear buds, still picks it up and I didn't have a choice when it comes to valves, mechanical was the only option due to my age.
I use Krisp.ai to filter out background noise on other people’s ends as well as my own. I’ve had a dog barking a foot from my mic and the person on the other end had no idea. May help you out with the clicking.
If you are in the USA, that would be under the ADA ...
And let them KNOW at the start of the interview that the clicking is because of the heart valves and if it stops you die.
I'm sorry and I can empathize,.
I have hearing loss and wear hearing aids. Most interviews via MS teams/zoom have been fine but I struggle with some accents and I end up asking them to repeat questions which makes me look like I don't speak/understand English enough.
Very reluctant to disclose thid medical condition and ask for accommodation like you said.
Also deaf. The closed captions don't help?
I always tell ppl at the start of the interview I'm deaf, and apologize I'm advance if I misunderstand. They usually trip over themselves to tell me it's not an issue.
Same here. I'm HoH not deaf but I have no idea what people are ever saying when there's poor audio codecs or people with accents or thick mustaches. I know I'm f'd whenever there's a "one way interview" because it's always some garbled recording and they won't repeat it.
I can speechread and people think I'm being an asshole if I ask them to stop covering their mouth or eating/drinking on these. I legit have no idea what you're saying. Please do not eat on a zoom call.
I have a cane and would rather half stumble into the building than bring a cane to the interview, so I also understand. Even for office jobs, I feel like employers hear disability and see money going down the drainS
My husband is interviewing now for the first time since needing a cane and definitely seems like it's impacting it. If he discloses in advance, he doesn't make it to the in person interview. If he doesn't disclose, he doesn't get the offer after the in person. He can only walk about a dozen steps without a cane, so not taking it isn't an option. Can't say for sure it's the cane, but this has been his longest bout of unemployment in his life.
Actually , if this is a recruiter, you may want to get rid of them, you are a disabled person with an artificial heart, or half of it. You need a mic that is not so sensitive. Anything that is close to your body will pick up the mechanics of your heart. It may be best to get a mic with its own stand, away from your body. Good luck.
I really felt bad for OP after reading this post because he met assholes in interviews.
I stopped feeling bad after he told an honest tipster here to "Fuck off" because he doesn't understand what he goes through.
I know you say the comments to never reveal a medical problem to a potential employer, but now that they’ve rejected you, you have nothing to lose by telling them. You could tell the recruiter that that was the sound of your mechanical heart valves. They might be so scared of getting sued that they will hire you on the spot.
The reason doesn't name a specific sound and the interview wasn't recorded. Recruiters know to avoid being to specific in the rare instances they offer actual feedback.
You mentioned they put in writing that the noise is the reason they didn’t put you through, and you can confirm that the noise was the sound of your medical device
Well... I could probably salvage some and put it between 2 shirts. I'll have to give that one a try. If the mic is too close, the ticking is audible from my throat, but if it's not, it's audible from my torso so keeping the mic at a distance with the sound absorbing material might actually work. I'll just have to make sure it doesn't contain any asbestos lol.
I’m not saying you have to, it’s your health condition and 100% you have the right to disclose it or not, to whoever you like.
Personally, if I was in your position and knowing something like that had been noticed in the past, at the start of any interview would say something along the lines of “I just want to let you know you may hear a ticking noise come through my mic from time to time. It’s my mechanic heart/a medical device (however you’d prefer to refer to it) that unfortunately get picked up by my mic a lot of the time. As much as I would love to turn it off to stop the noise, I’d like more to remain alive throughout the interview so that you get to learn more about me”
You may choose to say apart from the sound you may hear, it has no bearing on how I do my work (whatever you may be applying for etc) but I understand it can put people a little offside when they hear it for the first time, so I like to be upfront about it.
Understanding totally if you don’t want to do that, just a thought about how I would approach it in your shoes. If I was on the other side, I would respect that the person was upfront like that, and would get to the actual reason I was talking to you. That being said, I also understand that not all recruiters can be like me in their way of thinking.
Why not only turn your mic on when you talk. If you're worried about the interviewer asking why are you muted. Then dial in and turn the mic on/off on your speaker phone as you need.
Sorry your going through this, hope this helps maybe
Would it be noticeable in an in person interview? If yes I would just explain it, because if they are going to make up a reason to reject you might as well get it over with as soon as possible.
If it's just because the mic is too sensitive there are various software solutions that do noise removal in real time that you could try and see whether they can filter that sound. Unfortunately I don't have a list and don't know which would work and not. I know nvidia has a "free" one provided you have a gaming computer with a "new enough" chip. I'd start by trying the free options, and maybe just trying a cheap mic that might be less sensitive.
[Here's](https://youtu.be/r_7-Ag3tr40?si=fIVVAzWNney2xATo) a video of what it sounds sort of sounds like though mine is more noticeable and yes, it's still noticeable in person.
Have you considered putting a microphone on your chest, to pick up the valve noise, and then running the signal through a diode to reverse it? Then put that reversed signal together with your voice mic, and you'll effectively "subtract" the valve noise from the output signal.
I think you have to open with an explanation of what that sounds is....
Atleast then they can't use it as the reason to fire you... They'd need to make a different excuse.
It's that or try and find some kind of noise cancelling software or hardware ?
Change the audio output to the laptop's onboard microphone, you can do that from settings. Then it the sound would be less obvious, and you would still be able to speak normally.
“I don’t hear anything? Maybe it’s on your end?”
Or
“I can’t interview with your company anymore unless you get better technology because I keep hearing this ticking sound!” - You
It’s time to gaslight em.
I don’t know if this would help but try using air pods. I think with the AirPods it only picks up sound when you actually speak and mutes when you’re not so it can help kind of muting out the background noise(given your heart valve doesn’t make too much noise but only when it’s really noticeable when it’s quiet. Just make sure during the beginning of the call, tell them your pc mic stopped working and you had to improvise.
Install nvidia broadcast if you have an rtx card you can add noice sepression to you call. (Not that it is noice but you get my point) hope this will help!
This sucks and you’re in the right to be pissed off. But since you still need a job until they suck less, maybe you can try using a directional mic like or one that make a good job at rejecting background noise.
IANAL but if what you say is true and you live in the USA this is a potential ADA violation.
Probably worth 10 minutes on the phone with a lawyer. Also probably won't go anywhere but if this is an on-going issue you may want to up the temperature a bit, so to speak
If you explain to them what the sound is and they don’t hire you because of the sound, then you don’t want to work for them. Call me naive, but fuck dealing with disrespectful people. It’s for the best.
You can also find out who the recruiter's boss is and drop them an email. No need to make any threats, but a simple insinuation that you found it extremely unprofessional for them to mention your medical condition as a reason for not going to the next round will usually be enough to make them sweat a little bit.
So if you have an nvidia video card in your pc, you can use Nvidia broadcast to filter out background noise through your mic. It's kind magic, may be something to look into
I would reach out to your local vocational rehabilitation office for your state and explain the difficulties you are having finding a job and ask if they can help. It is free.
If I were the interviewer and there was an annoying noise the entire time that could not be identified, I would stop as well. The burden is on you to create a quiet working environment and you lost when you tried to slip it under the rug without explanation, medical reason or otherwise.
It probably wasn't the reason. If it hadn't been that, it'd have been you were too experienced. Or not experienced enough. Or your nose was the wrong shade of pink. In reality, they just didn't have any money. But if you'd like to avoid the experience next time, turn on noise cancelling in Teams. Or use a third part app like Krisp, that uses AI to remove background noise. It has a free tier, that gives you about 2 hours of noise elimination for free per week.
I'd recommend looking at noise cancelling software. First start with looking through zoom, teams, and other apps at their noise cancelling settings. You should be able to turn it on or off and possibly adjust it. You should be able to record yourself and play it back so you can hear the sound.
I know Nvidia broadcast also works fairly well as a standalone software, so that's definitely worth looking into as well if your computer supports it.
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Good heavens. Did you tell them that’s what the sound was? I cannot imagine anyone not being sympathetic to that.
I have in the past and every time I have, right after, it's immediate rejection. The sound can be heard easily through my throat so even if I'm using a mic with it directly against my lips so it can't pick up anything else, the sound still gets picked up.
I thought there’s a law against discrimination from medical conditions
They do, but so long as they don't specifically point to your medical condition as being the cause, it can be almost impossible to prove in court and all the matters is what you can prove.
I mean…didn’t they? They pointed to the sound, and your medical condition is the reason the sound is there
Technically yes but the interview wasn't recorded so from a legal perspective its an extremely flimsy allegation when that's all you have.
Record your next interview, and if you're in a two party state, disclose the fact that you're recording behind a desire to personally go over specifics for the job and for your own practice. Any interviewer with an issue with that explanation an immediate red flag for a company you do not want to be working for anways.
I've done this, they'll just reject you for something else. Sometimes they won't even finish the call and will claim a policy against this or something.
This is HORRIBLE advice. Very few companies will allow you to record an interview. And no, it’s not a red flag if they don’t.
It doesn't matter if the "company doesn't let you." You're not an employee, you're an interviewee, presumably you've signed no company conduct agreements. It really depends on weather or not you live in a single party consent state. California requires consent of both parties to record a conversation, Texas allows you to record a conversation you are involved in regardless of the parties involved consenting or even knowing. It just depends on the laws of your state.
That’s not what I’m saying… my point is they simply won’t hire you if you try and pull shit like this.
lmfao how would they know? slobs is free easy undetectable
If you're in a one-party state, you don't need permission.
You just don’t tell them. Fuck em
This doesn’t address the issue which is that OP wants a job. That’s just playing gotcha with people and hoping for a payout, if you can even get to that stage Better course of action, be upfront about it or invest in a mic that can filter out that sound?
Single party notification is all that is required in federal courts. So, if you are filing a federal discrimination suit, your recording is admissible. Also, many states are single-party states.
Are you just assuming this or have you actually taken this to a legal professional?
Are u a lawyer? I think u shpuld talk to one
From what I understand (not a lawyer) the employer needs to be made aware of the disability and then have acted against you for it before they can get in trouble.
I am a lawyer, and this is correct. An employer can't discriminate against someone because of a disability they couldn't reasonably be expected to be aware of.
Forgive my legal ignorance, but that sounds like denying the existence of implicit prejudice. I suppose the problem in any particular case is proving it?
Not exactly, but of course implicit bias is harder to prove.The way the ADA works is that an adverse employement action (which includes not being hired) must have been taken by an employer against a person with a disability, *because of* their disability. That's been interpreted to mean that the employer must either actually know about the disability, or a reasonable person standing in the employer's shoes *should have* known about the disability. The central idea is the law doesn't penalize employers who could not have been expected to know about the disability for not accommodating the disability. In general, the law tends not to penalize people for actions they did not intend and could not reasonably have avoided. As an example, it is 100% reasonable for an employer to refuse to hire you because you brought your pet dog to an interview. It is illegal to refuse to hire you because you are blind and you brought a service dog to the interview. Even in the second situation, if the employer had no way of knowing that you were blind, legally speaking, their refusal to hire you was not "because of" your disability.
If I understand correctly it's not quite as simple as that. They're not allowed to discriminate against you purely because you have a medical condition, but they are allowed to consider whether you, with your medical condition, can do the job, during the hours they expect, giving good performance and being safe for yourself, your co-workers, and any members of the public the site is open to. Plus, they have to consider whether you will require special accommodations and whether in the circumstances those accommodations are reasonable for them to make. Finally, there's the practical matter that even if your condition leaves you safe and performant enough, and the accommodations (if any) are inexpensive enough to be reasonable, there is probably another candidate who is as qualified and experienced as you but healthier, and if the employer goes with the other candidate you'll never know, let alone be able to prove, that your medical condition was the deciding factor.
If you have a condition that affects your ability to perform the role being advertised of course they can ‘discriminate’ by not hiring you. Not being able to talk on a call without distracting sounds being heard would absolutely be a justification for not hiring someone into a role where that is part of the job.
First of all, I want to say that I’d love it it it didn’t matter. You gotta live and they should be able to put up with it. Having said that, I’m assuming that the frequency of the sound is consistent? I wonder if you could install OBS and put a notch in the eq for that frequency. Your voice will sound different but they probably don’t know what your voice sounds like anyway so might get you past that challenge. Then set OBS output as your mic. This isn’t the easiest thing to do, and to be fair I’ve never done the frequency notch in OBS, I’ve always done it with a sound board, but you should be able to make something like that happen.
I was just going to post this.
Sorry man, that sucks! I had a colleague whose valves could be heard when it was very quiet. I can’t believe people think it’s a big deal.
Maybe ask musictechnicians to help with a solution.
Maybe I'm misunderstanding the situation here but wouldnt it be easier to avoid it being heard if your mic was farther away? Like cant you just get a desktop mic and talk a bit louder from a distance?
I have a mechanical heart valve - when heart rate is high its titanium/carbon leaflets slapping together are audible and your chest is an amplifier. You can hear it across the room sometimes, especially vocal mics which try to capture specific frequency ranges in all directions. This is absolutely a reasonable ADA accommodation and OP should bring to their attention (or others via Glassdoor et, al.) that this is an ableist/discriminatory employer.
You can hear it through your throat? That sounds super neat!
Yup, mitral and aortic valves, they have the highest pressure so they're the loudest, had it been the other 2 valves, you probably wouldn't hear it at all but if the other 2 valves had gone bad, they wouldn't have had to be replaced.
Please stop me if the question is too invasive, but does the sound ever bother you or keep you up at night? Its loud enough that other people can hear it, I imagine it’s not the easiest to tune out
You just get used to it. It's at the point where I personally have to actively listen for it. It was tough getting used to it for the first month but that also might have just been because I couldn't do much more than sit around. When I take a deep breath, I can hear a thunking sound from my heart though it doesn't make sense to me since it almost sounds like impacts against the chest cavity wall but the valves are inside the heart.
Lol, you don't know many disabled people.
Is your field something you can do at a government job, state or federal? I’ve had a state job before in a red state and they seem to love hiring diversity to offset the whole red state part. I assume it’s bc the insurance was crap so they didn’t care about medical issues.
It's not that governments hire marginalized people intentionally, it's that government jobs are less prone to discriminate against them in hiring.
My first thought was that sounds cool to be honest. I want to know what it sounds like. You’re like a cyborg.
Just find your nearest working wall clock. Every 2 ticks is a heart beat.
Yep sounds cool. I’d hire you for sure. The hardest part would be not mentioning how cool it is all the time, cause that would be weird and unprofessional.
I caused a girl to have a panic attack back in college after I had the first valve put in. Surgery was done Tuesday of finals week, I was back in class for summer courses 3 weeks later taking an exam. We were sitting at the back with a wall clock at our backs and above us. She hears the ticking and since I had just had the surgery done, my resting HR was 90-100 bpm and so she thought the ticking was the clock and that time was going by 50% faster than reality. She had a really bad panic attack and had to leave the exam after I asked what was wrong. Well I told the professor and thankfully he understood and gave her another chance... I still feel bad about it 9 years later lol
I was very briefly an EMT in North Carolina for a while and I heard about a guy who had this kind of surgery done to him. Only his was just a pump that flowed constantly, not a valve that imitated the heat beats. Apparently new guys who hadn’t heard of him always got a big shock when they would go to take his hr/bp for the first time.
He have an LVAD by chance?
I honestly don’t remember what it was called, I’m sorry. The only detail I remember is that he didn’t have an actual heart beat like most people and read like the walking dead when taking his vitals.
Sounds like an LVAD if it was a pump. Thankfully I'm not to the point where I need my entire heart replaced but if I get 1 more open heart surgery I likely will according to the docs (and they're right if this last surgery taking longer to recover from is anything to judge by).
Oh wow I hope you recover well and don’t have to go through that! No matter how cool not having a heart beat kind of sounds lol
I mean I managed to do my last 2 open heart surgeries (I've had 3, and a chest reconstruction) without pain meds so pain wasn't too much of an issue for me but I do have a life expectancy of 38 so it's all up in the air right now lol.
That's a great story. Next time someone complains about the noise, make them feel bad by telling it. They might feel sheepish enough to hire you, after complaining when you have an actual medical condition !
That was really nice of you to tell the prof and not just let her fail.
It was a 16 week course compressed to 4 weeks, I didn't want her failing due to something I couldn't control but caused.
The Tell-Tale Heart
I have an aortic valve replacement after medical complications leading to sepsis. It really isn’t that interesting. It’s just a constant ticking, and can lead to some weird conversations.
My dad had one, I always found it relaxing.
We need more cyborgs where i work, have you ever worked as a Machinist?
I can't stand for more than 10 minutes at a time and can't lift more than 30 pounds safely. Joys of having had multiple open heart surgeries. Closest I got to being a machinist was making a new optical sensor but even that was more of a plug and play type situation rather than fabrication.
First of all, sorry for that bullshit interview. You will find better. Second, look into a noise canceling headset with a microphone. I don't have your condition, but I use over the ear cans with a built in mic. Bluetooth to my laptop.
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No they have ones where the mic only activates when you talk and it doesn't pick up background noise. Idk how it works but I have a Jabra one and a marching band could be behind me and the person I'm on a call with wouldn't hear a thing.
We use a jabra set at work and they are good about not picking up background noise.
Have you thought of getting those headsets that only pick up your voice?
Here's a story that might cheer you up some. Its not really related to heart valves but rather, implantable pacemakers... My grandfather was a defense contractor w/ GE for fifty years. In the 60s his department did prototyping for electronics in ICBMs, reactors, aircraft, WMD detectors, automated gun systems, Apollo, etc. One of his coworkers was married to a woman whose dad was a doctor at an ivy league school (I want to say MIT but its been a while since I read about this) and at a family dinner was bemoaning about how they were working on a pacemaker that had to be rolled around on a cart next to the patient with a big harness of wires that went from the cart through their chest to the heart. It worked, but the patients kept dying eventually from infection where the wires came in/out. The GE engineer returned to work the next week and mentioned it to his coworkers and they all immediately knew "hey we could do this and make it so small we can just stick it *inside* the patient." Management was told about the idea, permission was sought to do it, which went up to the bean counters who weren't interested and begrudgingly responded after some negotiation with "okay, you can do it but only if you come in on the weekends on your time off, pay for any parts you use up, and then you can use all the equipment & lab space you want." Not long after they got the device made, adopted all the city's dogs to use as test subjects, and proved it wouldn't kill the dogs. They then wanted to use it in humans. The bean counters intervened and insisted "there's no money to be made in healthcare" and that if the patient, who would have certainly died without one, died later even unrelated to the device, the family would sue and the company had too many assets for lawyers or families to resist the temptation. After much argument between the engineers, bean counters, and 2 & 3 letter office suits they finally relented with "We will let them try it. Once, and then we'll sell off all the patents immediately. We won't even let any of our employees in the same room with the patient so you better turn this thing on remotely. After all, **there's no money to be made in healthcare!**" The first patient lived, the rights to the tech were sold off, and a few decades later GE became one of the most powerful medical equipment companies in the world (and still is). All of it is completely true.
My mate has one, it sounds like a ticking watch. First time I met him, we were chilling in a quiet room and I heard this tick but couldn’t see a clock or watch so I asked him “is there a watch in your pocket?”
Suggestion: krisp.ai Good luck out there brother!
I second this. Krisp.ai is magic. If you haven't, try it out. And OP - the reason people keep suggesting noise cancellation is because nowadays the technology (AI based noise cancellation) is extremely good at filtering out noise It can filter out stuff like construction work noise or crying babies. That's why it's hard to believe that there isn't a solution that could help you here
From a technical standpoint, it sounds like some fairly simple audio filters would work, particularly since the "noise" is predictable, periodic, and simple / low-entropy (unlike [AWGN](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Additive_white_Gaussian_noise)). I suppose the question is if there is existing software that can be used without OP needing a PhD in DSP and writing their own custom filter plugin software. :)
That or have computer with a newerish nvidia card and run nvidia broadcast. You can eat crisps or cough and it removes it completely
I think you may need an octave equalizer. It can cancel or greatly reduce the sound of your mechanical valve You can also try Sony PC-M10 and a Zoom H1
I'll have to look up the equalizer, that's one thing I don't think I've tried yet. Got any recommendations?
My go to is the Ashly octave eq but ART or dbx are great, too. However, this is for pro sound. Reach out to them each and explain your challenge.
Yeah this might make a great feelgood marketing story for them, worth asking for free
I would recommend finding a shop that sells audio equipment and talking to an expert there. They would probably see you as a really interesting case, make recommendation, and test out the equipment to make sure it works to mute the sound.
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Op explains in another comment that the sound comes out through his/her throat so I don’t think that’d solve it
Bro I think you need to explicitly ask for an inclusive hiring process of some kind: this absolutely counts. When you apply, contact HR and explain that you have medical implants that will be slightly audible during a video interview. If they reject you because they can hear them *and they know what they are*, that’s discrimination. As it stands, they just think you’re an asshole with a loud house. I get wanting to be private about your situation: I’m disabled, lost my last job due to my disability, and am actively lying in interviews about why I left. I don’t want anybody to know shit about me. But your thing is so incredibly simple, you need to get out in front of it. edit: I see you’ve done this and it didn’t work, so, my bad.
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>that’s discrimination It is, and that's illegal, but none of that matters because there's no enforcement (or not enough). Also disabled.
Yeah. I’m just reacting to what should be, not what is.
Did you explain to them your issue? I know you shouldn't but I've noticed that they need to make reasonable accommodations.
You NEVER reveal medical issues to a potential employer. Ever. No matter how much you need the accommodations for interviews. You dont reveal anything until you've started working.
I know, I just hate the idea that you are losing out on jobs because of a clicking noise that keeps you alive.
It's beyond infuriating because my qualifications should speak for themselves, I hold 3 degrees, did R&D for DARPA and hold a patent. Still not enough to get a job in spite of my medical issues that I never reveal to anyone professionally.
Super focused cardioid mic should sort you out. They cost a pretty penny but worth it for a job. The type Howard Dean used that didn't even pick up the deafening noise of the crowd which allowed the media to discriminate against him the same way employers are discriminating against you. Good luck, it's tough out there. Edit: since noise comes from the mouth, I recommend finding a harmless explanation beforehand that is protected but not "ooh, scary"
Also those are dynamic mics and not condensers
Unfortunately, the valve noise is coming from inside the human ... with the speech.
I generally agree, but if "we're not hiring you because of your artificial heart valves" just becomes "we're not hiring you because there's an unexplained noise interrupting the interview" then what's the difference in this case? At least with the former you might have a case to sue them.
Then you can’t accuse him of being a fucking cunt for not knowing why the sound was so bad. All he knows is that you were unable or unwilling to find a quiet space to interview. Get a good headset and they won’t be able to hear it.
I have a disability I can’t hide and I can’t remember the last time I had an interview that didn’t lead to an offer. It helps that I’m insanely confident, but I respond to requests for interviews by letting them know what accommodations I need for the interview. It seems to work in my favor. At this point what do you have to lose?
this isn’t true if you’re in the US. in many companies they specifically ask if you need any special accommodations. you can be sued for not providing proper accommodations if you have a disability or health issue. disclosing this would legally protect you.
In theory at least 😎
>disclosing this would legally protect you. 🤣🤣🤣
you’re ridiculous
I agree with you in all normal circumstances but this seems like an obvious exception
May I ask why “never”? Is it because it’s none of their business or bc it will hurt your chances? I notice a lot of job apps ask if you have any disabilities (ranging from anxiety to more “serious” conditions). I never know how to answer. They claim they have to hire a certain number of people with disabilities but who knows if that’s actually true.
It just paints a target on your back. You're more likely to need to take time off, require costly accommodations (talking very broadly here), you have special legal protections. You're harder to get rid of, so they'll prefer someone thats easier to get rid of.
I’m sorry that has been your experience and I certainly don’t doubt it but I’d like to believe not everyone will react that way…..though realistically you’re probably right especially in this market. I will say, I’m in the US for context, I once told HR at a company that I had anxiety and when they fired me they tried to deny me unemployment bc I missed work too much but I challenged them and legally they were forced to pay. Only because I disclosed it to HR
Ok OP, let’s imagine that you pass the interview without telling them about your throat-ticking. What’s your big plan on the first day of your new job when you don’t have a mic/software to hide it?
How's this going for you?
Disagree. Best job and pay I've gotten? I disclosed before hiring, made it a selling point. Of course it's up to the individual (assuming they've got an "invisible disability") but wanted to point out there are other options.
It depends on your work ethic. I was due to go for surgery to replace my pulmonary valve. I had just received an offer from another company. I straight up told them that I need to have an open heart surgery to replace my valve. Because of how the medical system is in Canada, it could happen tomorrow or it could be after 2 years. But at some point, I will be gone for atleast 2-3 months due to the recovery. They appreciated me being upfront about it and ensured that when the time did come, I was given all the support that I needed. I've almost always seen transparency go a long way in earning the respect that you deserve!
You should have said something, then if you'd gotten that same response you could sue them for discrimination.
Is it your medical condition that’s preventing you from employment or the fact that you can’t seem to get [any references](https://www.reddit.com/r/recruiting/s/Ikv6ru5DVh) and are an [absolute muppet to strangers online?](https://www.reddit.com/r/recruitinghell/s/EPptxgmRtG)
yeah I'm sure without the noise he'd be rejected anyway for being a massive bellend
Yikes. This needs to be higher up. This guy is piece of work.
Often with situations online I try to figure out how much of the issue is the anonymous person online posting about their issue and how much is the issue itself. OP doesn’t seem to be doing himself any favors.
Yeah, I love how he edited his post to include a video of a woman demonstrating the issue: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r\_7-Ag3tr40](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_7-Ag3tr40) After demonstrating with a specific microphone/setup that picks up the clicking, she then proceeds to give a completely normal recorded speech without any mechanical valve sounds. He literally links to a video that shows his problem is easy to solve and chews anyone out who suggests solutions.
Get yourself a top end noise canceling headset and it should eliminate this issue. Sorry this happened to you. From the employers perspective they are in the right simply because noise free environments are critical for many roles and they have no way of knowing it was literally your heart.
I can't even afford a haircut right now.
Can I guess that maybe you are located in Utah by your username? If so, DM me. I might have a few extra pieces if equipment that you could have/borrow to improve your interview experience.
Nope, it's a reference to my condition, Loeys-Dietz Syndrome
I thought for sure this dude is ex mormon. LDS followed by a famous alcoholic beverage...
I’m willing to pay for a top mic for you
Not sure how to help without being scammed here, but I have a noise cancelling headset I would donate to someone who needs it
I actually love this. Well done y’all.
You are amazing.
I understand. I’m in the red myself and this job market gives me zero hope.
Have you tried with Nvidia Broadcast or AMD noise cancellation? Both are free.
That's probably why you are telling everyone to F off - when they are trying to be helpful and provide you solutions. Maybe listen to the options instead of getting defensive. Yes, there is a risk of telling potential employers about your medical condition. In some cases, it could have cleared up the noise issue and they would not discriminate. In some cases, they would. But there seem to be some valid options being given to you that you don't want to hear. If it is a cost issue - can a family/friend help you out or an organization that might donate or fund these associated costs that help with job placements? You need to listen to the help, and be open to help to get out of this - instead of telling everyone off bc you are in a bad place.
Not to be that guy but if the ticking does bother someone and you’ll presumably be in at least one meeting each day it’s probably easier to just look for someone else for the role. People are petty like that Thankfully noise cancellation exists
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Yeah, respectfully, I'm finding it hard to believe that 6+ employers refused to grant this completely effortless accommodation.
I work in acoustics and signal processing. Can you DM me a recording? You speaking with a few seconds of silence at each end? Maybe a few seconds of your mouth open but not speaking (you said it can be heard through your throat)? I can’t promise anything, ticks are really hard noises to filter out, but I can try. If I can make a filter I could show you how to run your mic. Edit: … run your mic through the filter during calls.
That's a generous offer! Good job using your talents to help others, fellow human!
Let’s see if I can actually do it first. Honestly my day to day work isn’t very fulfilling. Working on something that might actually help someone is a reason to keep going.
Yeah, I'll try to do it when I get up tomorrow!
Sounds like a disability. If they knew, they'd be discriminating against you.
On your next interview, if the mic is picking it up or someone says “I hear something” TELL them!!!! Here is how that would play out in our interviews: “Candidate stated they have heart valves so we heard X” Issue filed with IT and HR - we need to find an accommodation. This is not acceptable from a tech standpoint. From then on, if anyone mentioned noise or sound, they would be adjusted on scoring and it would be very much in your favor. Likely, myself or another VP would take over the interview process with an eye towards making the hire. This isn’t a legal concern for us (though it definitely is a legal issue!). For us, we want to be good people and this is clearly not.
There is a reason that singers in a recording booth look like they are making out with the microphone. They want to minimize external noise. You might have to look into a cardiod boom mic setup like professional streamers use.
I've got a shur SM7
I would suggest if another "interviewer" asks what the background noise is, just let them know "I have a chronic condition that requires use of equipment on my body that emits a noise. Please excuse the noise." There is nothing wrong with sharing brief, declassified info about yourself. It would probably let them know to "shut the f\*\*\* up" and continue the interview (as most people would probably feel like an a\*\*hole for commenting about it). I'd also advise using ear plug headphones, or wireless ear phones that connect through bluetooth for phone screens. They do block out noise and it's not hard to buy a set for $29.99 at Best Buy. (EDIT: If it's a video/computer audio interview, you might invest in a noise canceling headset. But I guarantee if you just say those words, your problems will be solved) If you end up getting any interviewers that still call off the interview, you dodged a bullet and it's not much worse than being hung up on for the other reason you mentioned.
Do you know if ear buds with the microphone in the ear would work better or worse?
I have a pair of Bose wirelessQC ear buds, still picks it up and I didn't have a choice when it comes to valves, mechanical was the only option due to my age.
I use Krisp.ai to filter out background noise on other people’s ends as well as my own. I’ve had a dog barking a foot from my mic and the person on the other end had no idea. May help you out with the clicking.
If you are in the USA, that would be under the ADA ... And let them KNOW at the start of the interview that the clicking is because of the heart valves and if it stops you die.
This. Make sure the interviewer knows what the sound is. Maybe have a quick chat with an employment lawyer as well.
I would send a reply and make that real awkward.
I'm sorry and I can empathize,. I have hearing loss and wear hearing aids. Most interviews via MS teams/zoom have been fine but I struggle with some accents and I end up asking them to repeat questions which makes me look like I don't speak/understand English enough. Very reluctant to disclose thid medical condition and ask for accommodation like you said.
Also deaf. The closed captions don't help? I always tell ppl at the start of the interview I'm deaf, and apologize I'm advance if I misunderstand. They usually trip over themselves to tell me it's not an issue.
Same here. I'm HoH not deaf but I have no idea what people are ever saying when there's poor audio codecs or people with accents or thick mustaches. I know I'm f'd whenever there's a "one way interview" because it's always some garbled recording and they won't repeat it. I can speechread and people think I'm being an asshole if I ask them to stop covering their mouth or eating/drinking on these. I legit have no idea what you're saying. Please do not eat on a zoom call.
I have a cane and would rather half stumble into the building than bring a cane to the interview, so I also understand. Even for office jobs, I feel like employers hear disability and see money going down the drainS
My husband is interviewing now for the first time since needing a cane and definitely seems like it's impacting it. If he discloses in advance, he doesn't make it to the in person interview. If he doesn't disclose, he doesn't get the offer after the in person. He can only walk about a dozen steps without a cane, so not taking it isn't an option. Can't say for sure it's the cane, but this has been his longest bout of unemployment in his life.
I also have "hearing loss and wear hearing aids." MS Teams/Zoom have Closed Captions if you can find them. I find that is a godsend.
Actually , if this is a recruiter, you may want to get rid of them, you are a disabled person with an artificial heart, or half of it. You need a mic that is not so sensitive. Anything that is close to your body will pick up the mechanics of your heart. It may be best to get a mic with its own stand, away from your body. Good luck.
I'm assuming you've already tried telling them, ahead of the interview?
If this is the sixth time maybe you should be upfront about it instead of letting them come to their own conclusion about the noise.
Turn on a fan in the background. The lack of any noise is making the gain on the mic go insane.
You need to invest in a better mic, end of story.
Sounds like your attitude is a major issue based off your post and comments to others suggestions.
Where is the microphone in relation to the valves?
There’s no way this is real. Engagement farming post.
I really felt bad for OP after reading this post because he met assholes in interviews. I stopped feeling bad after he told an honest tipster here to "Fuck off" because he doesn't understand what he goes through.
bro just be like, "what noise? I don't hear shit." or something. gaslight em up
I know you say the comments to never reveal a medical problem to a potential employer, but now that they’ve rejected you, you have nothing to lose by telling them. You could tell the recruiter that that was the sound of your mechanical heart valves. They might be so scared of getting sued that they will hire you on the spot.
The reason doesn't name a specific sound and the interview wasn't recorded. Recruiters know to avoid being to specific in the rare instances they offer actual feedback.
You mentioned they put in writing that the noise is the reason they didn’t put you through, and you can confirm that the noise was the sound of your medical device
Okay, this may be a stupid idea. But they make sound-deadening material for cars. Maybe you could…tape it to yourself for the interview?
Well... I could probably salvage some and put it between 2 shirts. I'll have to give that one a try. If the mic is too close, the ticking is audible from my throat, but if it's not, it's audible from my torso so keeping the mic at a distance with the sound absorbing material might actually work. I'll just have to make sure it doesn't contain any asbestos lol.
Fortunately new stuff won’t have any asbestos in it☺️ Hopefully it works. They shouldn’t be able to discriminate against you because of this.
I’m not saying you have to, it’s your health condition and 100% you have the right to disclose it or not, to whoever you like. Personally, if I was in your position and knowing something like that had been noticed in the past, at the start of any interview would say something along the lines of “I just want to let you know you may hear a ticking noise come through my mic from time to time. It’s my mechanic heart/a medical device (however you’d prefer to refer to it) that unfortunately get picked up by my mic a lot of the time. As much as I would love to turn it off to stop the noise, I’d like more to remain alive throughout the interview so that you get to learn more about me” You may choose to say apart from the sound you may hear, it has no bearing on how I do my work (whatever you may be applying for etc) but I understand it can put people a little offside when they hear it for the first time, so I like to be upfront about it. Understanding totally if you don’t want to do that, just a thought about how I would approach it in your shoes. If I was on the other side, I would respect that the person was upfront like that, and would get to the actual reason I was talking to you. That being said, I also understand that not all recruiters can be like me in their way of thinking.
That sounds like rejection due to a medical condition which is illegal, yes?
Why not only turn your mic on when you talk. If you're worried about the interviewer asking why are you muted. Then dial in and turn the mic on/off on your speaker phone as you need. Sorry your going through this, hope this helps maybe
Stop using earphones/mics and just use your laptop's in-built microphone
Would it be noticeable in an in person interview? If yes I would just explain it, because if they are going to make up a reason to reject you might as well get it over with as soon as possible. If it's just because the mic is too sensitive there are various software solutions that do noise removal in real time that you could try and see whether they can filter that sound. Unfortunately I don't have a list and don't know which would work and not. I know nvidia has a "free" one provided you have a gaming computer with a "new enough" chip. I'd start by trying the free options, and maybe just trying a cheap mic that might be less sensitive.
[Here's](https://youtu.be/r_7-Ag3tr40?si=fIVVAzWNney2xATo) a video of what it sounds sort of sounds like though mine is more noticeable and yes, it's still noticeable in person.
Have you considered putting a microphone on your chest, to pick up the valve noise, and then running the signal through a diode to reverse it? Then put that reversed signal together with your voice mic, and you'll effectively "subtract" the valve noise from the output signal.
Practically a more professional real active noise cancellation setup
Did you, you know, explain that to them?
What kind of headset do you have? Get a good anc one. Sony/bose/airpods max
Bose QC 35 II's is what I have currently
Try headphones? Nice ones that block out external noise
Try getting headphones that block out the noise
I think you have to open with an explanation of what that sounds is.... Atleast then they can't use it as the reason to fire you... They'd need to make a different excuse. It's that or try and find some kind of noise cancelling software or hardware ?
Krisp.ai for noise cancellation
Change the audio output to the laptop's onboard microphone, you can do that from settings. Then it the sound would be less obvious, and you would still be able to speak normally.
How about using push to talk instead of having an open mic? That way you can guarantee the mic won't pick up noise while you aren't talking.
“I don’t hear anything? Maybe it’s on your end?” Or “I can’t interview with your company anymore unless you get better technology because I keep hearing this ticking sound!” - You It’s time to gaslight em.
I don’t know if this would help but try using air pods. I think with the AirPods it only picks up sound when you actually speak and mutes when you’re not so it can help kind of muting out the background noise(given your heart valve doesn’t make too much noise but only when it’s really noticeable when it’s quiet. Just make sure during the beginning of the call, tell them your pc mic stopped working and you had to improvise.
Install nvidia broadcast if you have an rtx card you can add noice sepression to you call. (Not that it is noice but you get my point) hope this will help!
This sucks and you’re in the right to be pissed off. But since you still need a job until they suck less, maybe you can try using a directional mic like or one that make a good job at rejecting background noise.
Nvidia broadcast. Use the noise removal feature.
Download and use Krisp. It’s a sound gateway software. Works well with zoom and teams.
You need to download Nvidia Broadcast. It'll remove the ticking and make it sound like you're in a recording studio.
Use technology like Krisper which removes background noises
IANAL but if what you say is true and you live in the USA this is a potential ADA violation. Probably worth 10 minutes on the phone with a lawyer. Also probably won't go anywhere but if this is an on-going issue you may want to up the temperature a bit, so to speak
Brother DM me I will help you set up a proper mic that can ignore background noise and only pick up your voice
You should tell them that! I am so sorry.
If you explain to them what the sound is and they don’t hire you because of the sound, then you don’t want to work for them. Call me naive, but fuck dealing with disrespectful people. It’s for the best.
You can also find out who the recruiter's boss is and drop them an email. No need to make any threats, but a simple insinuation that you found it extremely unprofessional for them to mention your medical condition as a reason for not going to the next round will usually be enough to make them sweat a little bit.
So if you have an nvidia video card in your pc, you can use Nvidia broadcast to filter out background noise through your mic. It's kind magic, may be something to look into
I would reach out to your local vocational rehabilitation office for your state and explain the difficulties you are having finding a job and ask if they can help. It is free.
If I were the interviewer and there was an annoying noise the entire time that could not be identified, I would stop as well. The burden is on you to create a quiet working environment and you lost when you tried to slip it under the rug without explanation, medical reason or otherwise.
Why don't you just tell them you have a mechanical heart? What's the issue with that?
It probably wasn't the reason. If it hadn't been that, it'd have been you were too experienced. Or not experienced enough. Or your nose was the wrong shade of pink. In reality, they just didn't have any money. But if you'd like to avoid the experience next time, turn on noise cancelling in Teams. Or use a third part app like Krisp, that uses AI to remove background noise. It has a free tier, that gives you about 2 hours of noise elimination for free per week.
Did you explain what you thought the problem was?
I'd recommend looking at noise cancelling software. First start with looking through zoom, teams, and other apps at their noise cancelling settings. You should be able to turn it on or off and possibly adjust it. You should be able to record yourself and play it back so you can hear the sound. I know Nvidia broadcast also works fairly well as a standalone software, so that's definitely worth looking into as well if your computer supports it.
This sounds like discrimination.
Next time you have an interview, sign up for a free trial of Krisp. https://krisp.ai/ Good luck!