Hearing loss and driving: Your guide to safe travel

Think of a typical drive to run errands. You shut the car door behind you as you sit down. You click the seatbelt into place. You turn on the radio or chat with a family member as you drive. You turn on and off your turn signals as you navigate. You hear honking horns in traffic.

Driving involves more sound than you might think. And these noises can help keep you and your car safe as you drive. However, for people with hearing loss, it can become more difficult to hear these important sounds while on the road.

While driving with hearing loss may require some adjustments to your driving routine, it’s possible to drive safely and comfortably. Read on to learn more about how to safely drive with hearing loss. 

While your vision is obviously the most important part of driving, hearing plays an important role in helping you stay aware of your surroundings as you drive. Hearing helps you remember to buckle your seatbelt when you get in the car, recognize the sound of approaching emergency vehicles, detect the horn of another car and notice an odd noise under the hood.

However, despite the importance of hearing to driving, having hearing loss and driving aren’t mutually exclusive. Depending on the severity of your hearing loss, you may need to take extra safety precautions to ensure that you’re still able to properly navigate the road—but in most cases, it shouldn’t stop you from driving altogether. 

To make sure you’re safe on the road, be sure to take these hearing loss and driving safety precautions before and behind the wheel:

• Check your eyes: If one sense isn’t at its full capacity, the other senses must pick up the slack. So, be sure to have your eyes examined annually and wear any prescription glasses or protective lenses as you drive to ensure that your vision is as clear as possible.
• Check your ears: Similarly to your eyes, it’s important to have your hearing checked regularly. By testing your hearing on a regular basis, your hearing care professional can catch any changes in your hearing loss and make any necessary adjustments to your hearing aids to hear properly in the car.
• Review medications: Schedule regular reviews of your medications with your doctor to determine whether or not your medications are interacting negatively or producing unwanted side effects, such as drowsiness or heightened anxiety.
• Utilize mirrors: Consider purchasing a larger rear-view mirror or add blind spot mirrors to your side mirrors. While these extra mirrors won’t totally get rid of any blind spots, they can provide some extra visual cues to improve your awareness of your surroundings. Be sure to review your state’s laws to ensure that any additional mirrors are compliant with state regulations.
• Use advanced driver-assistance systems: Advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) can provide some additional security and awareness while driving. The ADAS in each car may look slightly different, but be sure to activate systems such as collision warning systems, emergency braking and lane departure alerts.

Hearing loss becomes much more prevalent as we age: about 22% of adults 65-74 and about 55% of adults 75 and older experience some disabling hearing loss.¹ Numerous factors contribute to this age-related hearing loss, known as presbycusis, including:

• Long-term exposure to loud noises from work or hobbies;
• Health conditions like high blood pressure, heart disease and diabetes;
• Ototoxic medications;
• Hereditary ear conditions.

As you age and the body changes, it’s important to consider how these physical changes may affect your ability to drive. While this might look different for each person, be aware of how these factors related to aging may influence your capabilities on the road.

• Vision changes: As you age, you may experience some changes to your vision, such as a decreased ability to recognize shapes at a distance, sensitivity to glare or bright lights and diminished peripheral vision. Behind the wheel, this can translate to difficulties seeing road signs or pedestrians in the distance, driving at night or bad weather conditions, and recognizing other cars on either side.
• Reaction time: Age can also slow down reaction time, causing a slower response to any unexpected road conditions. This can mean an increase in the risk of accidents, especially when driving in heavy traffic or in difficult driving scenarios.
• Cognitive function: Aging can also decrease cognitive abilities like memory, attention and decision-making skills. This can cause difficulties in remembering directions or responding to new driving scenarios.
• Mobility and flexibility: Your physical abilities, including reduced muscle strength and flexibility, changes as you age. This can mean that small actions such as turning the steering wheel, pressing foot pedals or looking over your shoulder to change lanes can be more difficult.
• Medication use and health conditions: Your health may change as you age, and the medications you may take to address these conditions can have side effects that could affect your ability to drive. These side effects may include drowsiness, dizziness or impaired coordination. 

Depending on your state’s laws, you may be legally required to notify your state’s DMV of your hearing loss so that your license can be properly marked with a hearing loss driving restriction. You may also be required to comply with state statutes around applying mirrors or safety features, or taking additional driving classes to demonstrate your ability to drive with hearing loss. Each state has its own regulations on driving with hearing loss, so be sure to review information from your state’s DMV to ensure that you’re properly licensed and registered as a driver with hearing loss.

While there are no specific drivers license hearing loss requirements, on a federal level, it’s important to make yourself aware of individual state rules and regulations. It’s worth scheduling an appointment with your hearing care provider to assess your degree of hearing loss before heading to the DMV. While this isn’t necessary to access a license, it can provide useful information to understand how hearing loss affects you and what steps you can take to ensure that you’re able to be aware of your surroundings.

Just like people with hearing loss, people who are deaf are also able to drive. While they may experience some hurdles that others with hearing difficulties may not encounter, modern technology makes driving much more accessible for deaf people. 

To adapt to not being able to hear their surroundings, studies have found that deaf drivers rely more heavily on their vision to inform their driving.³ Using visual cues and modern technology, deaf drivers are able to drive and travel the same as other drivers. Audio-tactile converters can be installed in cars to translate sounds into visual signals. This way, if a horn honks nearby, the deaf driver will receive a signal in their dashboard alerting them to the noise, or through a steering wheel vibration.

While driving while deaf is legal, it’s important to consider certain safety precautions to ensure that you’re able to drive safely and be aware of other activities on the road, including:

• Adjusting your vehicle’s mirrors to create as wide of a field of view as possible, reducing any blind spots.
• Installing additional wide angle or blind-spot mirrors to enhance your visibility.
• Keeping your windshield and windows clean to improve your vision and minimize any glare or grime.
• Installing or activating advanced visual safety features in your vehicle, such lane departure warnings, rearview cameras, collision detection or vibrating alert systems.
• Keeping devices such as phones or other electronics away to reduce distractions.

There are currently no specific hearing level requirements for drivers of private vehicles and driving while deaf is legal in all 50 states. However, each state has its own legal considerations and requirements for drivers who are deaf. Review your state’s laws to know what you need to apply for a driver’s license. 

While driving while deaf is legal in all 50 states, each state may have certain requirements, such as requiring deaf and hard-of-hearing people to inform their state’s DMV of their impairment, install full-view mirrors in and around the car, take additional driving lessons after obtaining their permit and/or wearing hearing aids while driving.

Depending on your state, you may receive a demarcation or a restriction on your driver's license noting your hearing loss. This notation doesn’t mean that you are unable to drive with hearing loss; instead, it can alert law enforcement of your impairment before approaching your vehicle. Visit your state’s DMV website to learn about what is required for you to obtain a license. 

Remember: driving with hearing loss can be a manageable task with the right preparation. By understanding state legal requirements, utilizing modern technology aids and following essential safe driving tips, individuals with hearing impairments can navigate the roads confidently and securely. Awareness and preparation are crucial to ensuring safety and compliance, allowing you to focus on the journey ahead.

Don’t hesitate to speak with your local Miracle-Ear hearing care professional if you have questions or concerns about driving with hearing loss. Resources and support are available to help you embrace an independent driving experience with peace of mind.