Is it safe to drive with hearing loss? Yes, absolutely. But you do need to take some precautions. The most important is not to get distracted. That can happen to anyone, but it seems to happen more frequently when your hearing is less than perfect.

New hearing devices can initially take your attention away from driving. If you are an experienced, confident driver but have new hearing aids, start slowly. Drive on easy roads, or drive without the hearing aids until you are more comfortable with them. Once past that early stage, hearing aids will only make you a more alert driver, so wear them.

Vision can compensate for hearing, and good peripheral vision can make up for what you don’t hear. Even if you can’t hear a siren, you should be aware of it in your rear-view mirror long before you might be able to hear it. Good peripheral vision will also allow you to be aware of how fast you’re driving as well as giving you access to other dashboard indicators. Should you use GPS? I think yes, but I keep the sound off and stay aware of the visual display without actually looking at it. My eyes are moving all the time while I drive.

Listening to the radio or a podcast? I don’t, because I can’t follow them well enough over the noise of the car.

I think it’s okay to talk on a hands-free phone. Your Bluetooth-equipped smartphone can be connected to the car’s audio/visual system. Siri (or Alexis) will respond to a voice command to place a call – Call Mom. It will also alert you to text messages and ask if you want them read to you. It will also ask if you want to reply, and then give you a chance to edit your reply. All without lifting a finger.

Kids in the back seat? Make sure they’re buckled in and try to ignore them. But expect the unexpected. The toddler throws up. The kids get in a fight. The 8-year-old catches a finger in the closing window. Pull over! And remember that you control the windows and doors – make sure you use those child safety locks. 

Your dog should also be restrained, for his safety and yours. I use a harness that clips to the backseat seat belt. Available at Petco, Amazon and pet stores.

Adult passengers trying to talk to you? You won’t be able to read lips, so if you can’t follow what they’re saying, hold off till you reach your destination. Ask a passenger to wear your companion mic, a small clip-on that wirelessly transmits their voice directly to your hearing aid.

A cop pulls you over. Make sure you have a placard or sign saying you are deaf or hard of hearing, like the one pictured above. That should be the first thing the officer sees when he comes up to your car door. A few years ago, there were several incidents involving deaf drivers pulled over that went seriously, in at least one case fatally, wrong. I wrote about it in this post, Hazards of Driving While Deaf. Here’s a link to HearingLossHelp, where you can download and print your own sign.

Here’s one that may be unique to me, but if others have the same experience, I’d love to hear about it. My Phonak hearing aid alerts me to a dying battery with a tone that sounds exactly like a car horn. An annoying honk, honk, honk – as if another driver is really angry at me. This IS a distraction, since I’m looking around to see what I’m doing wrong. Learn to ignore that warning, at least when driving.

As summer approaches, many of us who don’t ordinarily drive will be. So make sure you’re driving safely. Hands on the wheel. Eyes on the road.

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For more about hearing loss and hearing help, read my books SHOUTING WON’T HELP and SMART HEARING, available as paperback or ebook at Amazon.