If the winter holidays haven’t totally wiped you out, you might be ready for a vacation. While traveling often brings great joy, is can also be stressful, especially if you are hard of hearing. Traveling with hearing aids or a hearing impairment can be an added challenge—even just going to an airport can be difficult if you have hearing issues. There are places around the world, however, that are particularly easy to navigate even if you have hearing issues.
Top vacation destinations for the hearing impaired
Disney World and Disney Land
Disney Resort guests are offered such amenities are phone amplifiers, bed shaker notifications, a strobe light smoke detector, and a Text Typewriter (TTY) telephone. If you’re not staying at the resort but are visiting the parks, Disney provides handheld captioning and assistive listening devices to its park guests so you can experience the full fantasy of Disney regardless of your hearing level.
New York, New York
New York City is a welcoming destination for visitors with hearing loss. If you wear hearing aids, many Broadway and off-Broadway theaters offer either assistive listening devices or a telecoil loop system for your hearing aids. Check out Theatre Access NYC, where you can search for shows based on the accommodation you’re looking for.
There are also hundreds, if not thousands, of museums in New York and many offer services for guests with hearing loss. Love art? Check out the Museum of Modern Art (also known as the MoMA), which offers telecoil-compatible devices and is outfitted with induction loops all over the building.
Caribbean Islands
Royal Caribbean is an exceptional cruise line for travelers with hearing loss. Cruises are a great way to travel if you have hearing loss because the on-board staff can get to know you and understand what accommodations you might need. Royal Caribbean offers assistive listening systems, closed caption televisions, a TTY and amplified telephones in your room, and more. If you’re not looking to sail to the Caribbean, the cruise line sails virtually all over the world.
U.S. National Parks
If you’re looking to find beauty in your own backyard, check out a national park. In the last few years, the National Parks Service (NPS) has taken a serious look at how to improve mobility and accessibility in their parks. Many of the national parks have assistive listening devices at their visitor centers, if they show videos. The great thing about vacationing at a national park, however, is that you can enjoy the beauty of nature regardless of hearing loss. Visit the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, Yosemite, or the Great Smokey Mountains and enjoy the peace of the great outdoors.