Don't let hearing loss give you the holiday blues: tips for hearing in busy environments

Don’t let your hearing get you down this year. Discover a whole range of devices that can help you hear your loved ones wherever you’re celebrating.

Christmas may look a little different this year, but there’s no need to compromise on your hearing.

While we’re all keeping our fingers crossed that we are able to meet up with loved ones and get out and about once more, it’s important to take a moment and consider your ears. Background noise can make it difficult to hear those closest to you: dinner plates rattling, laughing, and loud Christmas music. It can be tough for people experiencing hearing loss.

What can you do to combat this during the festive season?

Recognising hearing loss

The key step to overcoming this hurdle is recognising when you have hearing loss. This can be tricky, as hearing loss often comes on slowly. But if you find yourself turning up the volume on your audio devices, missing snippets of conversation or struggling to hear train station announcements, it could be because you have hearing loss. And you wouldn’t be alone, by 2035 the Royal National Institute for Deaf People estimates there’ll be around 15.6 million people living with hearing loss across the UK – that’s one in five of us.

If you’re worried, and you have a minute to spare, our free online hearing test can be completed in just 60-seconds. It’ll let you know how well you can hear and help you decide if you need a full hearing test with us at your local Leightons practice.

Noise reducing hearing aids

Today, the hearing aids you’ll find on the market are not only advanced with the latest technology, but they're also extremely discreet. Gone are the bulky outer ear devices of yesteryear, we can now offer products such as the Oticon OPN S which is a tiny aid that is virtually invisible in 80% of ears.

Jam packed to the brim with helpful technology, the Oticon OPN S makes background sound accessible but not distracting, allowing you to focus on those all-important annual catch-ups all holiday long. Users of this device can expect a 20% reduction in listening effort and 30% better speech understanding in complex noise environments, making those dinner table conversations so much easier.

Assistive Listening Devices, Microphones and Apps

Remote microphones can help you hear what’s important. Oticon’s ConnectClip functions as a remote microphone, which means you can give it to someone who is speaking and then hear their voice more clearly and directly to your hearing aids. It can be useful in almost any situation: lectures and classrooms to noisy restaurants or inside your car.

It can also allow you to stream phone calls to your hearing aids hands free as it will also relay your voice back to the person on the phone that you are talking to. The connect clip is also needed for direct streaming of audio from android products.

Another device in the Oticon range is the TV Adapter 3.0 which streams the audio directly from the TV and other audio devices to your Oticon hearing aids, effectively turning your hearing aids into wireless headphones for all those festive favourites.

If you’re looking at our Oticon OPN S range, your audiologist may also talk you through the Oticon ON App which provides discreet remote control of your hearing aids, letting you adjust volume and change listening programs from your phone. The ON App is also your connection to a wide variety of internet-connected solutions allowing you to stream from your devices and transform your hearing aids into a personal wireless headset.

But it’s not all about connecting to your devices: the app also allows you to change programs and adjust the volume in your hearing aids themselves without needing to press anything on the device. It allows you to check the battery level, find your hearing aids if you've misplaced them and includes troubleshooting guides to help you get the most out of your hearing.

The App is very helpful when out and about in the cold, whether you’ve lost your hearing aids while walking the dog or need to change the settings as you switch between the noisy chatter inside and the windy outdoors.

Oticon ON from the Android* or iPhone store, also makes it easier to stay in touch with loved ones from a distance and enjoy more kinds of entertainment this season.

*Please note that Android devices require the Oticon ConnectClip to be able to stream sound to your hearing aids, you can still access the device connectivity Oticon ON App.

Book your FREE Full Hearing Assessment today

If you’ve noticed a change in your hearing, or you have any concerns about your hearing health, call us to book your FREE Full Hearing Assessment on 0800 40 20 20 or book an appointment online.