Surviving Party Season with Hearing Loss

As hearing loss progresses, social situations can sometimes become increasingly challenging. Spending time with family and friends, particularly in environments with lots of background noise, such as busy restaurants, bars and social gatherings, can feel daunting.

The good news is that hearing loss doesn’t have to mean missing out on the fun! With the right support, technology and a little preparation, you can continue to enjoy social occasions with confidence.

Here are our top tips for making the most of party season when living with hearing loss.

Always Wear Your Hearing Aids

Following conversations in a group can be difficult when you have hearing loss. Even one-to-one conversations can present challenges. Depending on the degree of your hearing loss, you may miss entire parts of a conversation or simply overlook the subtle listening cues that many people take for granted.

For example, we naturally rely on small visual and auditory cues to know when someone is about to speak. These might include a change in someone’s expression, a slight intake of breath or a shift in their tone of voice. When you have hearing loss, these subtle cues can be much harder to pick up.

Add a noisy restaurant or busy bar to the mix, and things can become even more challenging. Multiple conversations, changing topics and increasingly animated guests can make it difficult to follow what is being said.

Wearing your hearing aids is one of the most effective ways to improve your listening experience in these situations. Your hearing care professional can programme your hearing aids to suit your individual hearing loss and create different listening programmes for a variety of environments.

For example, a dedicated programme may help reduce the impact of background noise while improving speech clarity. Depending on your hearing aids, you may also be able to switch between these programmes easily using an app on your smartphone.

Is It Just a Case of Turning Up the Volume?

We’ve established that hearing aids play an important role in helping you stay connected and sociable. But is improving your hearing simply a matter of turning up the volume and hoping for the best?

Absolutely not!

Modern hearing aids offer much more than basic volume control. Different listening programmes can be fine-tuned to help you hear more comfortably and clearly in a range of environments.

Your hearing care professional can make subtle adjustments to settings such as noise reduction, microphone directionality and speech enhancement, depending on the features available in your hearing aids. These adjustments can make a significant difference to your listening experience, particularly in challenging social environments.

If you’re unsure how to make the most of your hearing aids, ask your hearing care professional to demonstrate the different programmes and explain when to use them. A little knowledge and preparation can go a long way!

Connect to a Hearing Loop System

Another useful way to improve your listening experience when out and about is to take advantage of a venue’s hearing loop system.

Hearing loops are available in many public venues, including churches, theatres and cinemas. They work by transmitting sound directly to compatible hearing aids, helping to reduce the impact of surrounding background noise.

To benefit from a hearing loop, your hearing aids will need to have a telecoil (T-coil) fitted. When activated, the telecoil allows you to receive the sound transmitted through the loop system directly through your hearing aids.

Not all hearing aids include a telecoil as standard, and it may need to be specified when purchasing a new pair. If this is something you would find useful, be sure to discuss it with your hearing care professional before choosing your next hearing aids.

Phonak’s new EON hearing aids have a feature called Auracast. It’s a new Bluetooth technology that allows compatible public venues to broadcast audio directly to compatible hearing devices. Phonak EON makes connecting to available Auracast broadcasts simple through the myPhonak app. Where supported, users can scan a QR code to connect to the broadcast and enjoy a more direct listening experience.

Don’t Let Hearing Loss Spoil the Party!

Living with hearing loss can make social occasions more challenging, but it doesn’t mean you have to miss out on the moments that matter.

With the right hearing care, appropriately programmed hearing aids and a little preparation, you can continue enjoying time with family and friends, whether you’re attending a festive party, meeting friends for dinner or celebrating a special occasion.

If you’re finding conversations increasingly difficult or feel you’re not getting the most out of your current hearing aids, it may be time to arrange a hearing consultation.

Get in touch with our team today to book your appointment. We’d love to help you enjoy every conversation this party season!