The Importance of Hearing To Drivers

The ability to “hear” is only second to “sight” when a person is driving. A good driver should be able to hear a car approaching behind him, police car sirens, ambulance and fire brigade wailing away.

The inability to hear all these puts the driver in immense danger.

But surprisingly, unlike the necessity of good eyesight to drive, a person deficient in hearing is not subjected to any medical examination. Just try failing your “buta warna” or “colour blind” test. And see what happens.

So what does one do if a person realize his weakness?

Knowing or realizing you’re hard of “hearing”, you should then take steps or precautions to minimize this deficiency of yours.

First of all, try to fix a “hearing aid” to help you hear better. It might be expensive. But it’s worth it. After all, safety is important. As the saying goes, “we can earn money, but we cannot earn our lives”.

Secondly, take special precautions while driving. Knowing you are not good in hearing, drive slowly and do not speed. Anticipate dangers. In short, please take special precautionary steps.

At times, while we drive, we do face problems pertaining to tyre problems. Certain sounds might be emancipating from the wheels. Or at times certain sound might be emitted from the engine compartment. Early detention might save the driver from extensive damage.

To help the situation further, what else can a driver, hard of hearing do? Among those suggested are:

1) Do not put radio on too loudly.

2) Lower music from tapes and CDs.

3) Try avoid the use of mobile handphones.

4) Do not wind up windows fully so as to allow sounds from outside to enter the vehicle.

The above are but some of the ways a person who is hard of hearing could be helped to hear better whilst driving.