Playing sports with hearing aids (useful tips)
If you were active in sports before you got your hearing aids, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t be now. It’s perfectly safe to exercise with your hearing aids on – just remember a few precautions and you’re off to a flying start.
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Hearing aids
Do you wear hearing aids when you play sports?
If not, maybe you should think about it one more time before you hit the gym. Wearing your hearing aids can make a world of difference to your training sessions. And today’s hearing aids are robust enough to take on the challenge of your active lifestyle – as long as you take good care of them.
3 good reasons for wearing hearing aids during exercise
- What did you say? Who’s up? If you can’t hear well when you play team sports, don’t be surprised if you don’t win. Being able to communicate with your team is essential to playing well. Put on your hearing aids and keep your eye on the ball.
- If you’re working out alone, perhaps out on a jog, you will feel a lot safer with your hearing aids on. Just like any another situation, you want to be able to hear what is going on around you.
- For many, music is a motivational factor for working out. The best hearing aids today are easy to connect with your phone. With your hearing aids on, you can power through your exercise program with your favourite work-out tunes delivered straight to your ears.
How do I protect my hearing aids while exercising?
The number one sports challenge for hearing aids is moisture – usually from sweat! Behind-The-Ear (BTE) hearing aids are particularly vulnerable when there’s a risk of moisture reaching the circuit.
But don’t sweat it. You can get different accessories that prevent sweat from ever entering the hearing aids. Why not spring for a headband or go for a sweat-resistant hearing aid pouch? Both are easy to put on, and they prevent moisture from entering the electronics.
If you’re playing rougher sports, like rugby or basketball, even the best hearing aids can come loose and fall to the floor. To prevent damage from a freefall, you can use a clip to attach your hearing aid to your clothes.
Sara Batinovich, the author of a book about managing hearing loss, also recommends thinking about the clothes you wear. Hooded sweatshirts, she says, can mess about with how your hearing aids are placed. So can bike helmets, and even caps. Think about getting these properly fitted, so as not to interfere with your hearing aids, and have a more comfortable experience.
What can I do to protect my hearing aids after exercising?
After delivering your slam dunk or hole-in-one, you probably want to get clean. So do your hearing aids. Using your cleaning kit, remove the earwax and debris carefully with a wax pick and remove moisture with a puffer.
You can also invest in a dry box. A dry box simply stores your hearing aids overnight and safely removes the moisture while doing so. Some dry boxes even provide protection from bacteria – a win-win situation.
Cleaning your hearing aids after working out prolongs their lifetime and the quality of the sound you hear. So get the ball rolling and take good care of your hearing aids during and after sports.