How to Enjoy Summer Concerts and Festivals with Your Hearing Aids

Summer has arrived, meaning lots of fun concerts and festivals are on the horizon. If this is your first summer with hearing aids, you may be a bit worried about enjoying yourself at these events. Your experience is going to be slightly different, but there’s no need to fret. We’ve got some ideas and tips here to help you enjoy summer concerts and festivals with hearing aids:

Plan in Advance

When you know you’re going to a concert or festival, plan everything ahead of time. Check the venue for accessibility information and see if they provide assistance for people with hearing aids. Some concert venues will have designated seating or standing areas for people with listening devices, so you can connect them to the sound system.

If you can’t find any information online, call the venue directly to see if they can answer your questions. Hopefully, you get all the help you need and will know the best place to stand or sit with hearing aids.

Adjust your Hearing Aids

Hearing aids come with lots of different settings for different situations. It’s a good idea to check in with your audiologist before going to the festival or concert. Tell them where you’re going and they can help you tune the hearing aid to give the best performance at a musical event.

This may include reducing background noises to hear the music better, turning down the volume so on the microphones so it isn’t too loud, and so on. Your audiologist can provide you with detailed tips on how to adjust your device during the festival/concert as well. It’s a fantastic way to ensure you’re getting the best listening experience at this musical event.

Protect Your Hearing

Having hearing aids means you have some level of hearing loss already. Attending festivals or concerts can degrade your hearing even more. As a result, you should try to protect your hearing when you’re at these events.

A few ideas spring to mind, but one has already been mentioned. Turning the volume down and retuning your hearing aids can ensure sounds enter your ears at a much quieter volume than they otherwise would.

Two other tips include:

• Wearing hearing protection aids – like ear muffs – over your hearing aids. If you connect your hearing aids to the sound system, you’ll hear the music at a normal level while blocking out anything else. Be sure to talk to your audiologist about the different types of hearing protection devices you can wear with hearing aids.
• Take regular breaks away from the loud music. Go to the bathroom or find a place further back where the music isn’t as noisy. Give your ears a chance to rest so they don’t feel too overwhelmed.

Protecting your hearing helps you enjoy concerts and music festivals without doing more damage to your hearing.

Clean Your Hearing Aids Before Attending

Realistically, you should be cleaning your hearing aids every night before bed. Slipping out of this can lead to the devices working inefficiently. Mainly, wax builds up and can prevent the hearing aid from correctly transmitting sounds into your ears. At a concert, this could mean you have to keep turning the volume up or fiddling with settings to get everything perfect. It’s an annoyance and gives you one more thing to worry about.

Clean your hearing aids the night before the event. Ensure they’re working perfectly and everything is nice and clean. Again, this is why it’s important to book an appointment with your audiologist prior to events like this. They can test your hearing aids to ensure they’re still working optimally. If they’re not, you can get a new pair before the event – which is also why planning in advance is essential!

Focus on the Music

Last but not least, try to focus on the music and have fun. If you follow the tips above, your hearing aids will help you hear everything safely and have an enjoyable time. With the proper understanding and precautions, you’re free to let yourself relax and take in the whole experience.

Are you planning on going to concerts or music festivals this summer? Now’s the time to book an appointment with an experienced audiologist to check on your hearing aids and provide some retuning – along with a few other extra tips.

Contact Little Rock Audiology Clinic today, and we’ll schedule your consultation right away. The easiest way to get in touch is by calling us at (501) 710-4533.