Hearing Aids and Holiday Travel: Tips for Comfortable Listening
Every traveler knows that winter holidays are the busiest time to travel. Crowds on sidewalks and streets, at transportation hubs, and during family gatherings become larger and louder, and people are more prone to frustration and anger.
Anyone with some form of hearing impairment who wears hearing aids faces even greater challenges. Almost every point of contact can make their ability to interact and communicate with others more difficult.
We designed this guide to cover the role of hearing aids in your life and provide tips for more comfortable and positive holiday travel experiences.
Understanding Hearing Aids
A variety of hearing aids exist on the market, such as In-the-Ear (ITE), Receiver-in-the-Canal (RIC), also known as In-the-Canal (ITC), Receiver-in-the-Ear (RITE) and Behind-the-Hear (BTE). Some people use Contralateral Routing of Signals (CROS) and Bilateral Contralateral Routing of Signals (BiCROS) hearing aids to transmit sounds from their bad ear to their good one. People with hyperacusis, which makes certain distant, quiet, and other sounds too loud, use hearing aids and adjustable noise-reduction earplugs to decrease the impact of unwanted noise.
Hearing aids allow you to amplify or adjust sounds using speakers or manual changes based on different factors. The type of hearing aid you use can depend on your age, gender, ear canal, lobe sizes, hearing loss level, manual dexterity, and design preferences.
It's important to maintain hearing aids and, if applicable, batteries during holiday travel. Hearing aids need regular inspections and cleaning to guarantee correct functionality, clear sound, and hygiene. Extra batteries or a charger can decrease the risk of you becoming stuck without help from these critical devices.
Common Challenges with Hearing Aids During Travel
Acoustic challenges and environmental factors pose the most problems during the holidays. In a busy public transportation hub, for example, a traveler might have to try to hear from within a heavily crowded space that contains adults calling out to one another, young children or babies crying, dogs barking, concourse carts, buses, trains and nearby televisions producing loud or conflicting noises, and louder-than-normal or mumbling employee and overhead announcements.
High or low temperatures, humidity, the sound of rain falling, and other environmental factors can also impact the performance of your hearing aids. The technology might even lose functionality or become lost or damaged during travel. You might also need to deal with physical issues caused by pressure and weather changes, such as congestion and eustachian tube dysfunction. Learning more about these common challenges gives you a better chance of preparing for the worst.
Essential Tips for Comfortable Listening
A person with a hearing impairment can have a positive holiday travel experience. You merely need to prepare ahead for every potential challenge. For example, you should always attempt to travel during off-peak times and dates to reduce crowd exposure and adjust hearing aid settings to decrease or turn off background noise.
If you're trying to understand what someone is saying, move within three to five feet of them. Additionally, keep your travel case, cleaning tools, and maintenance tools in your carry-on bag to prevent loss of communication and hearing if personnel at an airport, bus, or train station lose your luggage.
Technology and Services for Improved Travel Experience
People who use hearing aids when traveling don't always need to avoid challenges. For example, you can invest in hearing aids that come with travel cases. Bluetooth hearing aids exist that offer better adjustment control. You can also enjoy music and other content through your smartphone, tablet, laptop, and other devices. If you're traveling with adjustable or noise-canceling earplugs, you can invest in a magnetic or custom connector cord accessory to prevent loss.
Additionally, many public transportation areas, places of worship, museums, community centers, banks, and other venues offer a hearing assistive technology known as a hearing loop, or audio frequency induction loop (AFIL), induction loop, or T-Loop, that directs a specific sound source, such as a person talking into a microphone, directly to a hearing aid. Hearing aids and devices with a wireless receiver telecoil pick up sound from this technology without background noises, distortions, or other interference. You need to look for the phrase "assistive hearing loop" mentioned in the accessibility section of travel and review sites and a blue sign marked with a white earlobe and a T to the lower-right of the lobe at a location.
Travel With Ease this Holiday
Planning ahead can improve your comfort exponentially when dealing with hearing impairment during holiday travel and staying at a hotel, resort, or with loved ones. Our experienced team at the Beltone Skoric Hearing Aid Center understands travel challenges for people with hearing impairments. For more information about this or another topic, contact our team of hearing specialists or visit our office today.
Sources
https://www.ncoa.org/adviser/hearing-aids/hearing-loss-statistics/
https://ncdhh.nebraska.gov/sites/default/files/2017winter_0.pdf
https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/5122-hearing-aid-styles
https://hearinghealthfoundation.org/blogs/17-misconceptions-people-with-hearing-loss
https://vestibular.org/article/diagnosis-treatment/vision-hearing/vestibular-hyperacusis/
https://www.hearingloss.org/find-help/hearing-assistive-technology/hearing-loop-technology/
