One component of hearing loss which is seldom discussed is the simple decrease in safety of people who have hearing difficulties. For instance, imagine that a fire starts in your house; if you’re like most people you have smoke alarms to sound an alert so that you and your loved ones can evacuate the house before a fire becomes widespread, and thus deadly. But this time imagine further, and ponder what might happen if your smoke alarm goes off at night after you’ve gone to bed, having removed your hearing aid.

The smoke detectors standard in most homes and those required by city or state governments produce a loud warning sound at a frequency between 3,000 and 4,000 Hz. Although most people can hear these tones without difficulty, these frequencies are among those most impacted by age-related hearing loss and other forms of auditory impairment. So even if you were awake, if you’re among the more than eleven million Americans with hearing loss, there is a possibility that you would not hear the alarm.

Fortunately, there are home safety products that are expressly created for the needs of the hearing impaired. For people with mild to moderate hearing loss, there are smoke alarms that emit a 520 Hz square-wave warning tone that they can generally hear. In case you are completely deaf without your hearing aids or when you turn off your cochlear implants (CIs), there are other alarm systems that use a mix of blinking lights, loud alarms, and vibrating units that shake your bed to wake you up. Several of these systems are intended to be integrated into more extensive home security systems to warn you of burglars or neighbors pounding madly on your doors in the case of an emergency.

Many who have hearing aids or who wear CIs have chosen to boost the performance of these devices by installing induction loops in their houses. These systems are in essence long strands of wire placed in a loop around your living room, kitchen, or bedrooms. These can activate the telecoils inside your hearing aid or CI that raise the volume of sound; this can be very helpful during emergency situations.

And of course there is the humble telephone, which all of us tend to ignore until we need one, but which can become critical in any sort of emergency. Fortunately, a number of contemporary mobile and home phones are now telecoil-compatible, to permit their use by individuals wearing hearing aids or cochlear implants. Moreover, there are telephones specifically designed for the hearing impaired which incorporate speakerphones that operate at high volumes, and which may be voice-activated. These phones allow you to voice-dial for assistance in an emergency situation. Other companies produce vibrating bracelets that communicate with your cellphone to wake you up or advise you if you get a call.

Other safety recommendations are less technical and more practical, such as always keeping the telephone numbers of fire departments, ambulance companies, health care providers, and emergency services handy. We are as serious about your basic safety as we are about your hearing, so if we can be of assistance with any further tips or recommendations, feel free to give us a call.