Don’t take your eyes off the road. While this may be sound advice, how about your other senses? For example, think about how much work your ears are doing while driving. You’re using your ears to engage with other individuals in your vehicle, alert you to important info coming up on your dashboard, and help you keep track of other vehicles.
So when you’re coping with hearing loss, the way you drive can change. That’s not to say your driving will come to be excessively dangerous. Distracted driving and inexperience are bigger liabilities when it comes to safety. Still, some specific safeguards need to be taken by people with hearing loss to ensure they continue driving as safely as possible.
Establishing good driving habits can go a long way to help you remain a safe driver even if hearing impairment might be influencing your situational awareness.
How your driving may be effected by hearing loss
Vision is the main sense utilized when driving. Even if you have complete hearing loss, your driving may change but you will still probably be able to drive. While driving you do utilize your hearing a great deal, after all. Here are some typical examples:
- Audible alerts will sound when your vehicle is attempting to alert you to something, like an unbuckled seat belt or an open door.
- Your hearing will often alert you when your car has some kind of malfunction. If your engine is rapping or you have an exhaust leak, for example.
- If another driver needs to make you aware of their presence, they will usually beep their horn. If you fail to notice the light turn to green, for instance, or you start to wander into the other lane, a horn can alert you before it becomes an issue.
- Emergency vehicles can usually be heard before they can be seen.
- Even though most vehicles are engineered to decrease road noise, your sense of hearing can raise your awareness of other vehicles. For instance, you will normally be able to hear a large truck coming your way.
All of these audio cues can help develop your total situational awareness. You may begin to miss more and more of these audio cues as your hearing loss advances. But there are steps you can take to ensure you stay as safe as you can while driving.
New safe driving habits to develop
It’s fine if you want to continue driving even after you have hearing loss! Stay safe out on the road with these tips:
- Keep interior noise to a minimum: Hearing loss is going to make it hard for your ears to differentiate sounds. When the wind is howling and your passengers are speaking, it may become easy for your ears to grow overwhelmed, which can cause fatigue and distraction. So roll up your window, turn down the music, and keep conversations to a minimum when driving.
- Keep your phone stowed: Even if your hearing is good, this one is still smart advice. One of the leading causes of distracted driving, nowadays, is cellphones. And that goes double when you try to use them with hearing loss. Keeping your phone stowed can, simply, keep you and other people safer–and save your life.
- Keep an eye on your instrument panel: usually, when you need to give attention to your instrument panel, your vehicle will beep or make some other sound. So you’ll want to make sure you glance down (when it’s safe) and confirm your turn signals aren’t still on, or your check engine light isn’t on.
- Pay extra attention to your mirrors: Even with sirens blaring, you may not hear that ambulance coming up behind you. So be vigilant about checking your mirrors. And generally try to keep an elevated awareness for emergency vehicles.
Keeping your hearing aid road ready
Driving is one of those activities that, if you have hearing loss, a hearing aid can really help. And there are several ways you can make sure your hearing aid is a real advantage when you’re driving:
- Have us dial in a driving setting for you: We can program a car setting into your hearing aid if you drive a lot. This setting will be calibrated for the interior space and configuration of your vehicle (where, normally, your passenger is to your side and not in front of you), making your drive smoother and more enjoyable.
- Get the most recent updates and keep your hearing aid clean and charged: When you’re on your way to the store, the last thing you need is for your battery to quit. That can distract you and may even lead to a dangerous situation. So keep your batteries charged and ensure everything’s in working order.
- Every time you drive, use your hearing aid: If you don’t use it, it won’t help! So make certain you’re using your hearing aids each time you get behind the wheel. By doing this, your brain will have an easier time acclimating to the incoming signals.
Hearing loss doesn’t mean driving is a problem, particularly with hearing aids which make it easier and safer. Establishing safer driving habits can help ensure that your drive is pleasant and that your eyes stay safely on the road.
