Don’t forget your hearing aids when you tee up! Golf is a rewarding sport that requires focus, precision and clear communication with your fellow players. Hearing aids make all these things possible; therefore, they can massively benefit your golfing game. Let’s discuss some advances in hearing technology, as well as some tips on how to make sure your hearing aids are working for you on the course.
Hearing Aid Hazards on the Golf Course
You’re probably quite familiar with the hazards to your golf ball: sand, water and the rough. There are elements to golfing that can also pose a challenge to hearing aid users.
Wind Noise
Wind noise is a common complaint for hearing aid users. This phenomenon is characterized by a loud whooshing noise, and it occurs whenever there’s a microphone and speaker in a gusty environment. This can be especially frustrating on the gold course, as the wind noise in your hearing aids can drown out the sounds around you and even reach dangerous volume levels.
The good news is that modern hearing aids have sophisticated digital sound processing that can identify and filter out wind noise, so it’s never amplified into your ear. Many have built-in wind reduction programs available; if your set does not have this, consult your audiologist about building a custom program.
Moisture
While July is known for fine weather, rain showers do still happen, and many golfers enjoy the extra challenge of teeing up in the rain. However, it’s worth remembering that water and hearing aids don’t mix. A round of golf can take hours; spending that long outside in the rain can expose your hearing aids to a lot of moisture.
Mitigate this risk by wearing some sort of covering over your hearing aids while you’re outdoors—a hat, a hood or hearing aid sleeves, for example—and drying them thoroughly when you return home in an electric hearing aid dryer. You may also want to consider water-resistant hearing aids—durability ratings and waterproofing in hearing aids grow more advanced every year.
Wide-Open Spaces
Sound waves dissipate easily in the wide-open spaces of a golf course, and if you’re on a course with few or no trees, there’s not even much to help them echo back to you. If your golfing buddy is all the way across the fairway and is trying to talk to you, you may struggle to hear them. Then again, if they’re standing right next to you, you still may struggle to hear due to the background noise or wind noise, as discussed above.
Consider microphone directionality to combat this problem. An omnidirectional microphone may help in the instance of a speaker being far away from you, as it allows you to hear sounds coming at you from all angles. To help you better hear someone standing right in front of you, however, a directional microphone would be much more effective. To get the benefit of both, there are adaptive directional microphones, which are directional microphones that can change the direction of their focus automatically. This responsiveness allows you to get the most out of your hearing aids on the golf course.
Speak to Your Audiologist
A golf course is a more complex listening environment than you might initially expect. Don’t let hearing difficulties impede your golf game. If any of the technology above sounded interesting to you, or if you have any other questions on how to make your hearing aids function well in specific environments, call Lakelands ENT and we’d be happy to chat with you about it.
