October is Audiology Awareness Month, which makes it a natural moment to book a hearing test and build healthy hearing habits.
AT A GLANCE
- Two October Observances Worth Knowing
- Making Audiology Awareness Month a Year-Round Habit
- Signs It May Be Time for a Hearing Check
- Pairing Hearing Care with Other Fall Routines
- Booking an Appointment Before the Holidays
- Giving Your Hearing Tools a Fall Tune-Up
- Taking a Break from Seasonal Noise
- Inviting Someone to Join You
Think about the things you do every fall without a second thought. You pull out the warm sweaters, you might get a flu shot, and you test the smoke detectors when the clocks change. These small seasonal habits happen because the season reminds you.
Getting your hearing checked can be easy to leave off that list. Changes often happen slowly, which is why it is important to have an examination to check your baseline hearing level and monitor for any changes.
Audiology Awareness Month is a great reminder to have your hearing checked. October already carries two national observances dedicated to hearing, and with a little planning, you can turn this month into a year-round habit that helps maintain your hearing health
Two October Observances Worth Knowing
October is a month when hearing professionals and health organizations make a special effort to share practical information. Knowing about these observances gives you a built-in reminder each year.
The first is National Protect Your Hearing Month. The National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), part of the National Institutes of Health, uses October to encourage people to reduce their exposure to loud sounds.
The second is National Audiology Awareness Month, recognized by the American Academy of Audiology. It highlights the role of audiologists, the specialists trained to test, diagnose, and treat hearing and balance concerns.
Making Audiology Awareness Month a Year-Round Habit
Knowing about these observances is a good start. But the real benefit comes when you use them as a gentle nudge to take a few simple steps each fall. Each year, you can look back on how your hearing, your tools, and your habits have changed, and make small updates as needed.
It may help to start small. You might pick one step from the ideas below, whether it is booking an appointment, cleaning your hearing aids if you wear them, or packing earplugs for the next football game, and build from there.
Signs It May Be Time for a Hearing Check
Hearing changes tend to arrive slowly, so they can be easy to explain away. A few common signs include:
- Asking people to repeat themselves more often, especially in noisy places
- Turning up the television or radio higher than others find comfortable
- Finding it harder to follow conversations in groups or restaurants
- Missing the doorbell, a phone ring, or a kitchen timer
- Feeling tired after social events that used to feel easy
If a few of these sound familiar, a hearing check can give you clear information instead of guesswork.
Pairing Hearing Care with Other Fall Routines
Habits tend to stick when they are linked to something you already do. If you schedule your flu shot every October, consider calling your hearing care provider the same week. If you change the batteries in your smoke detectors, that can be a good day to check your hearing aid supplies, too.
You might even write “hearing check-in” on your fall calendar next to your other seasonal to-dos. Seeing it in writing makes it feel like a normal part of the season rather than one more chore.
Booking an Appointment Before the Holidays
Once November arrives, many schedules fill up with holiday plans, travel, and family visits. Booking a hearing check in October gives you time to make any adjustments before those gatherings begin.
If your audiologist suggests a new hearing aid setting or a device update, you will have several weeks to get comfortable with the change before the holiday table fills up. Our guide to hearing health FAQs answers many of the questions people have before and after an appointment.
Giving Your Hearing Tools a Fall Tune-Up
Fall is a great time to give your communication tools some attention. If you wear hearing aids, you might take a few minutes to clean them, check your batteries or charger, and replace any worn domes or tubing your provider recommends.
If you use a CapTel captioned phone, you might review your volume and tone settings and adjust the caption size so it is easy to read. It can also help to turn on closed captions for your favorite fall TV shows and sporting events, so you can follow along with the play-by-play.
Taking a Break from Seasonal Noise
Autumn brings some surprisingly loud activities. Leaf blowers, lawn mowers, chain saws for firewood, and cheering crowds at sporting events can all expose your ears to high sound levels.
Protecting your hearing can be simple. Foam earplugs, earmuffs, or custom hearing protection from your audiologist can all help. Stepping away from loud noise for short breaks and keeping some distance from the source can help too. NIDCD’s guide to noise-induced hearing loss explains which sounds are loud enough to matter.
Inviting Someone to Join You
Hearing care can be easier when you share it. You might ask a spouse, sibling, or close friend to schedule their own hearing check this month, too. You can remind each other and compare notes once the appointments are done.
Family members can help in simple ways, such as offering a ride to an appointment or helping set up caption settings on a device. Community events like HLAA’s Walk4Hearing are another way to connect with others who understand hearing loss. Our look at five facts about Walk4Hearing shares more about the event.
Before long, checking in on your hearing can feel as natural as pulling out your favorite fall sweater. You might choose one small step this October, whether it is booking an appointment or cleaning your hearing aids, and give yourself credit when it is done. Clearer conversations with the people you care about are well worth the effort, this season and every season after.
Take the next step:
- Learn how a CapTel captioned telephone can make phone calls easier to follow while you look after your hearing this fall
- Find out which CapTel phone model might be the best fit for you or someone you care about
- See if you or someone you care about may be eligible to receive a CapTel phone at no cost
- For questions or to learn more, call CapTel at 1-800-233-9130
Keep exploring: More on types of hearing loss and how they affect phone communication | Visit the CapTel blog | Share this article with a friend
CapTel® is the inventor and technology leader in Captioned Telephones for people with hearing loss. CapTel phones show word-for-word captions of everything a caller says, helping those with hearing loss stay connected with the important people in their lives.
