How To Deflect Wind From Hearing Aids

14 September, 2017 Hearing Direct

Wind noise in your ear and background noise are some of the most common problems when wearing hearing aids. In this blog post, we run-through how you can cope in windy environments.

Hearing Aids & Wind Noise In Your Ear

Wind noise can cause problems for those wearing digital hearing aids. Even the most expensive hearing aids cannot guarantee complete background noise and feedback elimination. It is difficult for the chip to discern between noise and speech and deliver only the relevant sounds to the ear. For the wearer, it can be quite unpleasant.

Wind noise, along with a lot of other external noises cannot be controlled. It may not only be annoying, but also interfere so much with the signal that it makes other sounds difficult to hear and understand. In some extreme cases people take their hearing aids off, which is rarely a good option especially when suffering from severe or profound hearing loss.

How to Cope in Windy Environments

There are various ways to cope with situations when the wind noise is being amplified by your hearing aid straight into your ear. At times, we all want to spend time outside or enjoy an outdoor hobby such as sailing or playing golf. In these situations, it is highly likely to experience wind and its whooshing sound amplified into your ear.

Many hearing aids have special features aimed to reduce wind noise in your ear to a minimum and enhance other sounds. These include specific microphone placement to avoid external noise as much as possible or programming the device for windy environments. For more information about this function and its adjustment, it is best to ask your audiologist or dispenser.

To experience the least background noise and wind interference, many hard of hearing prefer invisible hearing aids. Due to their size and shape, the microphone is often hidden in the ear, which reduces the external noise that is picked up.

Invisible hearing aids are available at Hearing Direct:

However, not everyone feels completely comfortable with small devices or has the dexterity to manipulate them or their small batteries. We offer a range of other types and hearing aid models.

Protecting Behind the Ear Hearing Aids from Wind Noise

For behind the ear hearing aids, options available to prevent wind noise reaching your ear include windscreens or windhoods.

For example the Phonak Wind and Weather Protectors for Behind The Ear Hearing Aids can be attached to your hearing aid to lessen the effect of wind in the microphone. 

It is worth while getting used to some wind noise occasionally, as it is unavoidable sometimes. Hearing aid technology advances quickly, so hopefully in the near future all background, static and wind noise may be eliminated. Luckily, many of today's top hearing aids have features to suppress this noise, and even more focus is being put on speech and music appreciation features.

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Author: Stuart Canterbury

Picture of Stuart Canterbury

Stuart joined the hearing aid industry just at the start of the digital revolution in the mid 1990s. He was part of a team that transformed one of the minor manufacturers in to a major player in both production and retail of high technology hearing aids. This journey included working on public / private programmes to accelerate the uptake of high technology hearing aids across a wide distribution. This passion for improving the value and access to good quality hearing lead to the foundation of HearingDirect. After almost a decade and hundreds of thousands of customers we are starting to establish online sales as a practical, cost-effective channel to provide great hearing to all those who need help.