As a wearer of battery powered hearing aids when I was growing up, it was pretty easy to travel around. All I really needed to ensure I’d be able to hear was a spare pack of batteries, ready to swap one out as needed. I reckon I had battery packs in every bag that I ever used, including my toiletry bag! If I happened to be out and about when I heard the dreaded ‘battery about to die’ beeps, and I didn’t have batteries with me, chances are I wasn’t far from a chemist where I could buy more.
Nowadays, travelling with a family is a little less footloose and fancy free, especially when there are 3 deaf people with hearing devices. It can take a bit of extra planning to ensure that we have all the essentials in terms of chargers and extra bits and pieces when we leave home.
When you’re already managing appointments, school, communication needs, and everyday family life, reducing even a little bit of that mental load can make a big difference.
When my daughter and I moved from hearing aids to cochlear implants, I realised early that we needed to ensure we had all the things we needed to keep us ‘on air’. Unlike my hearing aids, it wouldn’t be as easy to replace a flat battery as the rechargeable ones we use are only available directly from Cochlear! There are battery holders that you can use disposable batteries with, but I’m very happy to leave my days of disposable batteries in the past!
What made travelling easier for us
The easiest way I’ve found to manage this is to have doubles and a permanently set up ‘travel pack’. This means that whenever we travel, I just need to grab that and I know that all the essentials will be coming on our trip with us. It’s one less thing to worry about and you definitely don’t need to have the perfect system straight away. Ours has evolved over time as we’ve figured out what works best for our family and the devices we use.
In our family there are 2 cochlear implant (CI) users and one rechargeable hearing aid user, so there’s a few different chargers and things we need. The range of things we need has decreased since my daughter and I now both have N8 processors, but for many years we had different types!
What’s in our kit?
- One Breeze/dry box (where our CI processors live overnight, to remove any moisture and to make it easier to find them in the morning!)
- Two N8 Y chargers (for CI batteries)
- One hearing aid charger
- Power cable for Breeze box
- Two cables with 3 different charging ends (Apple Lightning, USB-C and Micro USB)
This allows us to charge the hearing aids and N8 batteries without needing a cable for each charger - Power board with USB-A and USB-C charging ports too (purchased from Aldi when they had their travel themed specials)
Other additional chargers (so I don’t need to think about them every trip!)
- Phone charger and plug for me
- Watch charger for me
- Fitbit charger for the kids
- Hubby has his own travel kits so that’s why there’s nothing for him!
And a few extra power plugs and USB charging adaptors too. This enables us to work with whatever powerpoints we find when we arrive.
Spare parts
- Earhooks (small and medium)
- Safety/Retention cords (one end on processor/hearing aid, other end on clothing). Very handy for unplanned trips to venues where losing them may be a problem (eg. Bounce, any place with foam or ball pits!)
I’m really bad with packing spare parts, and that’s mostly because aside from ear hook issues recently, we really haven’t needed to replace parts much in the 9 years we’ve had CIs. I also think it’s because we typically go on shorter, weekend trips and so we’d probably be able to make do if something needed replacing. I suspect that for our two week holiday in July, I might be wanting to pack a few more things!
As we do a lot of car trips, I also have a USB battery charger that lives in the car. We haven’t had to use it yet, but it’s nice to know it’s there if needed.
Having a permanently packed travel kit has definitely reduced the thinking involved whenever we travel and helped reduce some of that last-minute panic about forgetting something important.
It’s definitely made travelling feel a little calmer for us. Have you considered creating something similar for your family?
P.S. I really did have battery packs everywhere – I even found some recently and I stopped wearing hearing aids almost 7 years ago! It’s amazing how far and wide they spread!
