Safety Tips for People with Hearing Loss

Safety Tips for People with Hearing Loss

Matt DearingHearing, Hearing Health, Hearing Loss, Tips and Tricks

As we age, we worry most about staying safe at home. Even though most of our worries are unfounded, taking a few simple precautions is a smart way to prepare for a potentially dangerous situation. 

Even though it’s not very likely, being ready for a fire or other emergency at home is a simple thing you can do to give yourself peace of mind now and possibly save your life if something does happen. Making sure your alarm system works is one of the best ways to protect yourself from fire risk.

People with trouble hearing need to do more to ensure their home alarm works. We all know that smoke detectors must be in every home by law. These simple devices can save your life by letting you know about a possible danger before it worsens. Some house fires spread quickly, so it’s essential to act quickly when a smoke alarm goes off to keep yourself and your home and belongings safe. 

But what if you can’t hear the smoke alarm when it goes off? Even if you have trouble hearing, you can still find out if there is a fire in your home by taking a few simple steps.

The warning signs

In case of a fire, you need to hear the alarm, so you have time to get out of the house. If you have trouble hearing or have lost your hearing, you can put more smoke alarms in more places around the house. These devices aren’t too expensive, and people with mild hearing loss can use them well when they are close by. Make sure you have at least one detector on each floor of your home. If your home is bigger, you may need more. The more detectors you have, the more likely it is that something will happen when you are nearby.

Check your batteries

The only time smoke detectors work is when they are turned on. Each month, go through your house and press the “Test” button on each unit. It won’t take more than a few minutes to ensure the devices work. If you find one that isn’t working, you’ll need a battery to fix it. Most smoke alarms have a signal that goes off when the battery is running low. 

Instead of ignoring the signal or even taking out the battery and setting it down, keep a few batteries on hand so that you can change the battery as soon as the signal goes off. Make sure you don’t use the battery from the smoke detector in another device, toy, or unit, and then forget to replace it!

Get help with your hearing.

The best way to stay safe for people who have trouble hearing is to get hearing aids. This will ensure that any warning will be heard and that you can act immediately.

 Hearing aids help a lot of people who have trouble hearing. If you are used to wearing hearing aids at home during the day, you will be more likely to hear the smoke detector. Most people, however, don’t wear hearing aids at night. Most manufacturers will even tell you to take them off at night to give your ears a break. It is not uncommon for a fire to start in a home at night, and the cause may be a neighbor or a unit next door. 

Because of these things, you can buy different alert systems that work with assistive technology. Some of these devices work with your smartphone or other alert systems, which is pretty impressive. Some of these devices vibrate, and others flash bright lights that might wake you up if you are sleeping. 

If you want to know more about these fire alarms for people who can’t hear, don’t hesitate to contact us. We can show you the different kinds of assistive technology that can keep you safe at home.