The holiday season is right around the corner, so, we want to share some tips that will help you hear better and more clearly at family gatherings or when in a restaurant environment in order to help you prepare!
1- Turn down background noise
It is important to turn down the background noise! Many times, a gathering will have the TV on or music playing in the background. The louder the background noise, the louder a person has to talk to be able to be heard above it! If it’s your gathering, consider turning the TV off and turning the music down when it is time to sit down for dinner.
You may be asking yourself: “But modern hearing aids are designed to reduce background noise?”. Yes, modern hearing aids are extremely good at removing background noise, but your severity of hearing loss, amount of people talking, and amount of background noise can significantly influence how well you hear. If you are able to limit background disturbances, your hearing aids will be able to pick up speech sounds to their full potential (after all, speech is our main focus of conversations).
If you’re the guest at a gathering, try to find a quieter room to have your conversation or talk to the host about the background noise!
2- Position yourself correctly
If you can’t manage background noise disturbances, it is important to take control of your hearing by position yourself correctly within your environment. Tips for this include:
- positioning yourself away from background noises e.g. speaker systems, air conditioners or restaurant kitchen
- making sure you position yourself close to people that are softer spoken
- ensure that you face the direction of the people that are talking to you
Our Audiologists in George: Ilke Lategan and Jonathan Stokell are always happy to discuss ways to improve your hearing with your hearing aids on.
Feel free to contact us by clicking: Contact Us – Distinct Hearing
High levels of background noise can reduce our hearing performance with hearing aids.