Travel Tips for Children with Hearing Loss – Must-Haves for Smooth Trips

Ready to hit the road this holiday season? Whether it’s grandma’s house or a snowy getaway, traveling with your child who is deaf or hard of hearing can be smooth, fun, and full of listening and learning opportunities!

Learn how you can prepare for travel with hearing aids and cochlear implants. Get tips on how to pack for the trip, how to keep routines during travel, and ways to support listening and language development while you’re away from home – no matter where your travels take you.

Pack Smart: Your Hearing Device Travel Checklist

Before you hit the road (or take to the skies), prepare a hearing device travel kit to keep everything your child needs in one easy-to-reach place.

Here are some ideas of items to include:

• Device components 
• Accessories 
• Extra batteries and cords 
• Charger 
• Remote microphone 

Having all of the hearing essentials together means you’ll be ready – and your child won’t miss a moment of hearing your voice and all the exciting new sounds around them.

Wear Time Doesn’t Take A Vacation

Even on vacation or away from home, wear time matters! The more your child wears their hearing aids or cochlear implants, the more language they hear, and the stronger the connections in their brain become to lay the pathways for listening, talking, and reading skills.

The more your child hears, the more they learn! So, even when you’re traveling and away from your normal routines, keep your child’s hearing devices on during all waking hours.

If you're traveling with a baby or toddler who likes to pull on their devices, check out this infographic for tips and accessories to help you keep the hearing devices on – your persistence makes a difference!

Keep Familiar LSL Routines Going

Travel often means a change of scenery, but routines bring familiarity and help your child continue to grow their listening and talking skills. So, where you can, try to continue some of those same routines from home.

For example, if you always read books aloud before bedtime, pack some books with you so you can keep reading aloud every day. If you sing songs together in the morning, keep that going too!

Talk with your early interventionist about how to bring the LSL strategies you use at home with you on your trip. Strategies like Be a Director, Be a Bird Dog, Play-By-Play, Make Listening Easier, and It’s Your Turn are perfect for keeping your child’s listening and language growing on the go.

Explore New Sounds and Words

Traveling opens up your child’s world, and that means there are all kinds of new sounds and vocabulary for you to explore together.

• Taking the train? Find some books about trains to read about before, during, and after the trip.
• Heading to the beach? Practice words like “waves,” “sand,” and “splash.”
• Visiting the city? Listen for horns, sirens, and chatter.
• Checking out any new destination? Take advantage of the new vocabulary and practice at home together before the trip.

These experiences build your child’s listening and language skills in meaningful ways – plus, they’re great opportunities for making memories and bonding together!

With all new experiences, remember to take lots of pictures of your trip and use them to create an experience book:

• Print the pictures from your trip to put in a notebook.
• Under each photo, write down what happened on the trip.
• Depending on how old your child is, they could tell you what to write or even help you draw pictures.

Now you have a custom storybook to read aloud with your little one and bring all the memories of your trip home with you!

You’re On Your Way to Listening and Learning – Wherever You Go!

There can be a lot of stress or worry that accompanies travel, but there are also a lot of incredible opportunities for listening and learning! Lean in and make the most of it – it will be worth it.

Tune into the short video below to feel prepared and make the most of your travels with your little listener.