A trip shouldn’t just be a relaxing experience where we recharge our batteries for everyday life; it’s also a chance to discover entirely new things: new people, a different culture, exotic dishes, unfamiliar landscapes, and even new sounds. Thanks to modern hearing aids, even people with hearing loss can fully experience the sounds typical of a country. However, there are also a few pitfalls that hearing aid users should be aware of to ensure that traveling with hearing aids is a pleasant vacation experience. To ensure your trip with hearing aids goes smoothly, it’s best to visit your hearing care professional shortly before your vacation begins and have the functionality of your hearing aids checked. Here are some issues that can arise when traveling with hearing loss:

• If warning signals are missed due to hearing loss, dangerous situations can arise—for example, if you fail to notice an approaching vehicle or a bicycle bell. That’s why you should always wear your hearing aids while traveling.
• In addition to the usual language barriers that even people with normal hearing face in many vacation destinations, communicating with others while traveling can be even more challenging.
• Loud ambient noise—for example, at a market or in a restaurant—makes it very difficult to understand what’s important.
• Accommodations are not tailored to the needs of people with hearing loss; for example, room acoustics may be poor.

Thanks to modern hearing aids, people with hearing loss can have positive experiences while traveling and fully enjoy the visual sights of their vacation destination. That’s why you should always travel with your hearing aids. They feature standard functions that allow you to clearly understand locals, tour guides, hotel staff, and even the sounds typical of the country.

Modern hearing aids have an amplifier that boosts relevant signals and filters out distracting noises. In addition, many hearing aids suppress background noise, wind noise, and reverberation—which often makes it difficult to understand speech in large rooms. They detect and attenuate impulse noises and shift high-frequency sounds to a lower, audible frequency range. The use of directional microphones ensures that the words of the person you’re speaking with reach the wearer clearly and intelligibly and stand out from background noise. Many models also have the ability to automatically amplify sounds and attenuate others.

Hearing loss often exacerbates natural language barriers, but this is precisely where hearing aids come into play. They allow you to understand what is being said much better and respond accordingly. Furthermore, many hearing aids do much more than simply optimize hearing. Hearing aids have long been available that, when paired with a smartphone, feature an automatic translation function and thus interpret speech directly into the ear. Traveling with hearing aids can therefore offer advantages that even many people with normal hearing would envy.

People often take a plane to reach their vacation destination. This can be problematic for people with hearing loss. It starts right at the airport, where a barrage of sounds assails our ears: planes taking off and landing, crowds in the departure hall, and countless announcements. All of this can lead to real auditory stress and makes it very difficult for people with hearing loss to understand what’s being said.

The noise level is also very high inside the plane itself. On top of that, masks are now required in the terminal and on the plane, which muffles the speech of others and makes it even harder for people with hearing loss to understand what’s being said. Modern hearing aids can help here, too. Hearing systems with noise cancellation ensure that your ears are spared from loud noise. You’ll only perceive the airplane noise very faintly, and the strain on your hearing will be significantly reduced.

You also do not need to remove your hearing aid during security screening at the airport. If the scanner beeps, let the security personnel know you’re wearing a hearing aid. And if you mention that you wear a hearing aid when purchasing your ticket, the cabin crew can prepare for this in advance. This makes traveling by plane with hearing aids significantly less stressful.

If you travel with hearing aids, there may be times when they don’t work properly. Many minor problems can often be resolved on your own without having to visit a hearing care professional.

• First, you should always check to make sure your hearing aid is turned on.
• Next, it’s a good idea to turn up the volume to check whether the volume control has been accidentally adjusted.
• In addition, a battery that’s not seated properly or a dead battery can cause a hearing aid to stop working. That’s why you should always carry a spare battery with you. Check to see if the battery is seated correctly and, if necessary, try a new one.
• If you wear BTE (behind-the-ear) models, check the tubes, as they can wear out or break over time.
• You should also make sure that your hearing aids do not become loose—and thus get lost—when putting on or, especially, taking off your mask. For this reason, it’s best to use a mask that attaches to the back of your head with a strap or ties at the back of your head.

In addition, many manufacturers offer an international repair service that you can use while abroad. It’s best to find out before you leave on your trip who can help you in a “hearing emergency” and what costs your health insurance will cover.

Summer is just around the corner, and with it comes vacation season. No matter where you travel on vacation, with your modern hearing aids, you’ll be prepared for any eventuality. You can learn more about this in our article “Off on Vacation.”