The Ultimate Guide to Better Hearing During the Holidays 

If you’re getting ready to celebrate the holiday season, it’s important to make sure your hearing—and your hearing aids—are ready too. In this guide, we offer tips to help you hear your best during the holidays so you can connect with loved ones and enjoy all the festivities the season has to offer.

6 Tips for Hearing Your Best this Holiday Season and Beyond

The holidays are all about spending time with the people who matter most to you. But amidst all the laughter and cheer, many people with hearing loss can actually find themselves feeling overwhelmed, isolated, or lost in all the noise.

Thankfully, a little preparation can make a big difference in how confident and engaged you feel during this year’s festivities. Below, we list expert tips to ensure you can hear your absolute best this holiday season and beyond.

1. Wear Your Hearing Aids Every Day

One of the most powerful ways to prepare for the holidays is simply wearing your hearing aids consistently every single day. This is especially true if you’re new to hearing aids or don’t wear them regularly.

Hearing is about more than just our ears. When you wear your hearing aids daily, you’re giving your brain the stimulation it needs to stay sharp and active. The more consistently you use your hearing devices, the easier it is for your brain to process incoming sounds naturally and separate speech from background noise.

Holiday gatherings and festivities demand a lot from your listening system: more noise, more talking, more shifting environments. Wearing your hearing aids consistently leading up to the season, strengthens your ability to stay engaged without feeling drained.

2. Review Your Hearing Aid Programs

Holiday environments can vary from quiet dinners with a few relatives to bustling parties with overlapping conversations. Custom hearing aid programs help ensure you stay fully engaged, no matter where your celebrations take you.

Hearing aid programs are personalized listening modes designed to help you hear better in specific environments. Each mode processes sound differently based on your hearing needs in those specific instances.

So having the right hearing aid programs in place before the holiday season can make a major difference to your listening experience. Before the season begins, take time to review the programs stored on your device and ensure they’re optimized for the types of situations you expect to encounter. 

3. Create New Custom Hearing Aid Programs

If needed, your hearing care specialist can also create new custom settings tailored to your holiday plans. For example, they can create a program personalized to your unique hearing needs for large family parties, one for quiet religious services, and another for noisy restaurants. These customized profiles can help your hearing aids automatically prioritize the speech you want to hear while minimizing background noise.

If you have any questions about custom hearing aid programming, don’t hesitate to reach out. The specialists at Audibel Hearing Center in Chapel Hill are more than happy to assist you with any of your hearing care needs.

4. Practice Using Different Hearing Aid Features

Before the holidays arrive, it’s also a good idea to make sure you feel confident using the features your hearing aids have to support you in real-world situations. Even the best hearing technology can fall short if you’re not comfortable using it.

It’s best to start with the basics, like putting your hearing aid in, turning it on and off, and adjusting any of the physical setting controls on the device itself. If you feel confident in that, the next step is to familiarize yourself with your hearing aid app.

Smartphone apps like My Audibel Hearing Aid App, offer a wide range of features that put you in direct control of your hearing. With a quick tap of your screen, you can adjust the volume, switch programs, suppress background noise, and even boost speech clarity.

Exploring these features and practicing how to use them helps ensure you are ready for the season ahead.  A few minutes of practice can make a huge difference, so you can stay fully engaged no matter where the holidays take you.

5. Consider Wireless Hearing Aid Accessories

Wireless hearing aid accessories can also be incredibly valuable in difficult listening environments. For many people, these accessories are the difference between struggling through holiday events and feeling fully included in them.

Bustling family gatherings, festive parties, and holiday travels all have uniquely challenging demands on our ears. Wireless hearing aid accessories help bridge the gap between what your devices can do on their own and what you actually need in order to hear clearly in these complex situations.

Wireless hearing aid accessories can dramatically improve clarity in noisy environments, so you can stay present, connected, and comfortable during the holiday season and beyond.

6. Get Your Hearing Aids Cleaned and Checked

The holiday season is full of meaningful moments like catching up with distant relatives, watching your favorite festive movies, and attending lively celebrations. To ensure you don’t miss out on any of these treasured moments, book a hearing aid clean and check appointment.

These routine appointments not only keep your hearing aids working as effectively as possible, but they can also extend the lifespan of your devices. Your specialist will carefully clean your hearing aids to remove any wax or debris that may affect their performance. They will then thoroughly inspect and test every component to make sure your hearing aids are working exactly as they should be.

Getting a clean and check appointment now ensures any performance issues are identified and addressed before the festivities are in full swing. Schedule an appointment at Audibel Hearing Center to ensure your hearing aids are in tip-top shape for the holiday season.