There is long and strong tradition of athletes with hearing loss and their story should be told. However, to date the tradition has not included hearing aids.
In 2004, there were four athletes in the Olympic games in events such as the breast stroke, wrestling and diving. It is very encouraging to hear of athletes with hearing loss participating in high level sports. It does not, however, speak to a success for hearing aids.
Athletes have trouble using hearing aids. The hearing aids are often damaged by perspiration or the contact that often comes with sport. Despite efforts to seal the hearing aid from damage, an achilles heal is the battery. The battery can not be sealed and in turn is a weak spot.
But even tougher than battling perspiration is simply keeping them in. While headbands have been tried most athletes simply go through their event without their hearing aid.
To date, there is not a fantastic solution for hearing aids to be used in sports. In no way does this mean that people with hearing loss can not excel in sports, they simply have trouble using their hearing aids of choice. This is not unlike glasses but we don’t have the equivalent of contact lenses – YET!
