Summer is here! It is a busy season of family vacations, road trips, and adventures abroad. However, exploring new places can mean new or unexpected challenges for those living with hearing loss. These challenges may include unfamiliar hotel rooms, navigating airports, and guided tours. This article shows that with some planning, summer can be accessible and enjoyable.
Planning ahead:
- Let the hotel or tour operator know that you have hearing loss and may need accommodations. Many airlines offer visual boarding notifications, including through their apps. Hotels can provide hearing accessible rooms or kits, including visual alert systems for alarms and phone calls. If you’re traveling internationally, it may help to have a printed card that explains you have hearing loss to make it easier to get assistance if you’re in an unfamiliar place.
- Pack extra hearing aid or cochlear implant batteries or chargers. Having a power bank can also help with rechargeable devices. Dehumidifiers or drying kits can help keep your devices safe from humidity. Consider a remote microphone or FM system for group tours, or look into captioning apps on your phone to provide speech-to-text help. Any technology gear should be kept in your carry-on bag in case of lost baggage or delays.
- Some smartphone apps with live-time captioning can be used with translation features to show both the transcribed and translated speech.
- While on tour, ask museum front desk staff for any guided tour scripts or personal amplifiers for visitors with hearing loss. If not, you can bring your own remote microphone or follow along with a captioning app. Hearing loops may also be available for events held in theaters and performance venues.
- Advocate for yourself by requesting accommodations, asking others to repeat themselves, or using technology. Doing so can help make the travel experience more enjoyable and accessible.
With this information and the right strategies, look ahead to fun summer travel!
