Thanksgiving can be a very exciting and stressful time. Learn more about healthy hearing during Thanksgiving in today’s Audicus blog!
Thanksgiving is a time for travel, social gatherings and inclement weather, all of which may be a bit taxing when you utilize hearing aids. However, there are a number of habits that can help you enjoy the holidays to their fullest!
Healthy Hearing and Traveling
Whether you’re going home to visit family, meet friends or attend a special Thanksgiving-themed event, it’s normal to use cars, trains and other forms of transportation during the holidays.
A useful habit for healthy hearing during the holidays is being consistent. Make sure you wear your hearing aids while operating a vehicle or when traveling by train, bus or plane.
Not only does wearing your hearing aids while traveling reduce the chance of accidents, it also lets you know any changes or delays to your travel schedule.
Also be sure to carry hearing aid batteries, chargers, and other hearing aid accessories that will allow you to use your hearing aid in any location.
Healthy Hearing and Holiday Weather
Thanksgiving is often accompanied by inclement weather! Snow, rain and other forms of precipitation can damage hearing aids, rendering them less efficient or completely nonfunctional.
Be sure to protect your devices by keeping them away from contact with snow, rain or sleet.
When wearing your hearing aid, make sure it is anchored properly to avoid strong winds from blowing it off of your ears.
When not in use, store your hearing aid above ground level, as moisture can leak into housing during the winter months and cause water damage.
Hearing aid dehumidifiers extract moisture that may build up from your hearing aids throughout the day as a result of rain or sleet.
Hearing aid dehumidifiers use a desiccant to extract moisture from the hearing aid overnight. The desiccant prevents water from interacting with the electric and metallic components of the hearing aid.
Hearing aid cases are also an excellent accessory for keeping your hearing aid safe from holiday weather!
Healthy Hearing and Social Gatherings
Whether it be the sound of doorbells, conversations at the dinner table or Thanksgiving Day parades, your hearing can help ensure that you’re kept up to date on all of the holiday fun!
It’s common for friends and family to spend extended amounts of time together during their favorite holidays. Hearing loss can make it tricky to keep up with conversations, especially if there are multiple people talking at once.
Be sure to stay within earshot of the person speaking and align yourself closely with the rest of the group. Feel free to ask people to repeat themselves if you couldn’t hear what they said the first time, and wear your hearing aids normally to make it easier to communicate.
Making good habits during holiday travel, social gatherings and inclement weather can ensure that you’ll have a great Thanksgiving!
By: Aaron Rodriques
Source: National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders