Why Our Hearing Is Especially Important During the Darker Months of the Year
In the fall and winter—when it gets dark earlier—it becomes harder to navigate traffic. That’s when our hearing plays a particularly important role in identifying potential hazards in time. That’s why you should make sure your hearing is good, especially during the darker months of the year.
Just now, children dressed in Halloween costumes rang our doorbells and asked for “trick-or-treat.” The days in fall and winter are often a mix of good and bad when it comes to the weather. Although there are many beautiful, sunny days even during the dark season—when it gets light later and dark earlier—there are also more and more days when it rains, snows, or is very foggy. All of this significantly limits our visibility. On such gloomy days during the dark season, when we can’t see clearly anymore, it’s all the more important to be able to hear well—and that’s especially true when it comes to traffic.
Good Hearing—Essential for Recognizing Dangers
Approaching vehicles, warning signals such as car horns or the siren of an emergency vehicle—we must be able to hear all of these clearly and identify them, even during the dark months of the year when visibility is poor. This is even more important when you consider that the risk of accidents increases further during the darker months due to wet conditions, leaf-covered roads, frost, or even heavy rain and wind. This makes it even more crucial to detect hazards in time, and when visibility is limited, this depends increasingly on good hearing. And to pinpoint exactly where a sound is coming from and react quickly to potential dangers, both ears must function well, because only then is directional hearing possible.
Hearing Aids and Driving
How to Drive Safely—Even With Hearing Loss. Modern hearing aids are high-performance computers with sensitive microphones designed to better distinguish between speech and background noise. Not only do they amplify important sounds while driving, but they also help ensure that your brain doesn’t forget how to interpret words and sounds.
These tips will help you drive more safely with hearing aids.
- Keep all background noise to a minimum.
- Turn down the car radio so you can better focus on traffic sounds.
- Keep the car quiet: Loud conversations are distracting and prevent you from focusing your full attention on traffic while driving with hearing aids. If you have trouble hearing the other people in the car—whether you’re the driver or a passenger—talk to your hearing care professional about technical options and the optimal settings for your hearing aids.
- Close the windows. It’s best to keep the car windows closed to minimize road noise. Today’s vehicles reduce road noise thanks to their design, which is beneficial for people with hearing loss.
If you reduce the multitude of sounds competing for your attention, you’ll hear traffic better and drive more safely with hearing aids.
By the way: If you have hearing aids with a Bluetooth hands-free option, you can even take phone calls while driving. Talk to your hearing care professional about this feature.
Regular Hearing Tests
To understand your current hearing status and—if necessary—take appropriate action, it is recommended that you have your hearing tested regularly by an audiologist or an ENT specialist. This makes it possible to detect potential hearing loss early on and compensate for it by fitting modern hearing aids.
EuroTrak Germany: Hearing Aids Promote Road Safety
Hearing aid users are increasingly satisfied with their hearing systems in typical everyday situations, as confirmed by EuroTrak Germany: The 2022 Hearing Study. For example, 59 percent of respondents say that hearing aids help them hear better or much better. This also applies to driving. Here, 79 percent of survey participants say they are satisfied with their hearing. When asked, “Do you feel safer while driving since you started wearing a hearing aid?” 66 percent answered yes. Similarly, 66 percent of people feel safer while riding a bicycle or e-bike since they started wearing a hearing aid.
If you'd like to test your hearing yourself, you can do so with our online hearing test—it only takes three minutes. With our basic hearing test, you can quickly and easily find out how well you can hear.
Our ears have to endure a lot, especially in winter. Find out here how to keep your ears well protected throughout the winter.
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