According to The New York Times, the former officers also contend that the department's policy forces those with hearing impairments to hide their condition.
The two men, Daniel Carione and Jim Phillips, say that because the NYPD doesn't routinely test officers for hearing, the ban does little to weed out officers with hearing loss.
NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said the department was not actively looking to see if officers have hearing aids. But he said if an officer says he needs a hearing aid and it indicated hearing loss "then that could lead to a disability retirement."
