How to deal with loss of hearing aid while traveling

Many hearing aids have a find my hearing aids feature in the app.

When I travel, I take my old hearing aids as back up. Since you cannot do that, perhaps buy some AirPod Pro earbuds as back up. You can get them programmed for you by either taking the hearing test offered when you turn them on or using your audiogram you already have. They are not as good as your hearing aids, but good enough to get by on as back up.

I also take on trips extra batteries or an extra charger, extra tips and charging cables, etc. I really use my remote mic that goes with my hearing aids a lot for guides to wear. I use the Roger On with my Phonak hearing aids. In the past I used the Oticon mic. Others on the walking tours were always jealous that I could hear the guide without staying as close as possible! The guides are always willing to wear a Bluetooth’s lapel mic.

I’ve also never lost a hearing aid, but it is a natural worry.

One way to lose HAs is set them somewhere they can be eaten by a dog or grabbed by a toddler. I never set mine on a coffee table, even briefly. If it’s a necessity (I leave mine in my vehicle at times), then a small hardcase is used.

Also convient for me at times is in a shirt pocket (barber shop). I’m old school and will not own a shirt without a pocket. In 12 yeas or so with HAs I’ve never lost one (other than temporarily) and only put one set in the washing machine. They dried out after a day or two and were OK.

I’m also miserable when without - such as when sent in for warranty work. My prior Audi provided a backup set in one such case but not another, IIRC. I stopped using her due to the 3.5X cost difference in the top end Resound Vs the Costco Jabra 20s, at the time.

I kept my (disposable battery) Jabra 20s as a spare set when I upgraded to the Jabra 30s. One of several things I really miss without a full feature set of HAs is streaming the television. Upgrading your current set before they crash would be one solution. Possibly at the two or three year mark.

In 20-25 years of wearing them, I’ve lost one or both aids several times, always short-term and always recovered within a few hours (with one exception, when one aid bounced into the interior of our Jeep Wrangler in 2018, never to appear again… it’s almost certainly still there somewhere under the carpet, embedded deep in the underbody, but obsolete anyway).

For what it’s worth, here’s my advice. Absolutely if your aid and smartphone (Apple iPhones can definitely do this with many hearing aids) have the ability to “Find My…” hearing aids, it can help save your bacon, BUT to have the best chance of your smartphone helping you locate it, when you lost an aid, your smartphone has to have been with you and your hearing aid smartphone app has to have already been:

1. installed, open, and running on your smartphone with location services always enabled, which is not something iPhones do by default… in fact, iPhones will question you from time-to-time, are you sure you want location services always enabled with this particular app?? Yes you do! For privacy concerns, it’s not a good idea to Always allow location services for most apps, but you do want to set your hearing aid app to Always allow location services, so “Find My” can work.
2. in range of a cellphone tower at the time you are separated from your hearing aid(s) with working batteries. There are still many geographical locations in the US where you are out-of-range of a cellphone tower, including most places in many national parks.

For the same reason, Find My aids also can’t work if a missing aid somehow gets moved to a new location after you lost it. The key is that the app is tracking where it knows you were when you were separated from your aid; it has no way to know where the aid is now. Ask your audiologist, or test this for yourself, if you doubt this. You should test this in a simulated situation, where you deliberately place your aid somewhere else. Can “Find My…” find it??

You can take some other steps to prevent losing it in the first place. In my home, if I need to take out my aids during the day (and I do if I’m going to take a shower or use a power tool and wear earplugs instead, for example), I’ll put the aids in their charger or in one of two other places in my home. That way I know where to look later. I use the same principle if I need to remove the aids in another location (such as where I get my haircut). Routine is important. Catch yourself if you are tempted to deviate from routine.

There are also physical things you can do to keep your aid well attached. It’s very important that the dome or custom mold you use fits you to a tee and is properly placed in your ear canal. If you’re still having near-misses where you catch an aid dangling… definitely a warning sign you should heed… make an appointment with your audiologist. They can try a different size dome. They can attach a sports clip. You can buy a device that works like a (sound-passing) sock around the body of the aid with a clip to attach to your clothing:https://www.gearforears.com/3

Joggers and other active athletes need to be especially careful.

One key danger situation where I have occasionally caught an aid dangling in the air or even <gasp!> on the ground is when I’ve needed to put on or remove something else from my ears: eyeglasses… sunglasses… a hat… or back in the Covid days, a face mask with straps over the ears. In those situations, even though a change in sound has often been a key clue a hearing aid’s about to go AWOL, I try to instinctively double-check to be sure both my domes are still in place.

A second set of back-up hearing aids is the best option.

I have Jabra Enhance Pro 30’s (used daily), Eargo 7’s (back-up and also work great) and Airpod Pro 2’s (workout, music streaming, flying with noise cancelation turned on).

All three will be coming on my US and then Europe travels over the next 2 months.

It is similar to vision. I wear multi-focal contacts all day, but make sure I have up to date prescription glasses whenever I am out or travelling (at least with the contact I carry multiple pairs when travelling).

I’m the same.

So, I developed a habit. Every night the HAs go into a dehumidifier. If I’m out and about there always in a box in my bag with 2 batteries.

It’s new to you, you just have to develop a routine. It will become second nature.

For me it helps if you have ab app on your phone. It’s a great reminder.

I always wear shirts or pants with a zip or snap pocket, and put my aids in them when not in use. No exceptions to this rule, otherwise I will forget where I carelessly put them. If you go to the pool and don’t have a snap pocket, take them to your room, or car and get them locked/pocketed up so they can’t be lost. I lost one when the wings didn’t fit properly and it fell out - a lesson that I should have been smart enough to avoid learning. Now I constantly touch them when I leave rooms or vehicles, just in case they have loosened up somehow.

@gene51425 said:

I’m terrified to lose my HA while traveling. I would become completely helpless without th

Look into getting your HA’s insured on your house contents insurance for world wide coverage. I have my devices insured this way. I list my aids on a ferry in Scotland a few years ago, the insurance paid out on them for me.

I lost one aid when I was out running; I think it may have caught on the hood of my running jacket as it was raining. I now wear a Phonak hearing aid retention cord that clips securely to the back of my running top with cords that slide over each hearing aid. Even if they fell out they’d still be attached to my top.