Eating at a restaurant with hearing loss

Dine Out With Confidence: 5 Tips

Hearing challenges can make it feel daunting to try a new restaurant. Will it be too loud? Will it be easy to understand the people you want to hear? Try these five tips for hearing your best when out on the town.

  1. Scope It Out: Call the restaurant in advance or visit online. Exploring the menu and seating options beforehand lets you clarify preferences to ensure clearer communication.
  2. Plan Your Seating: Sitting away from the kitchen and other noise zones helps curb distracting sounds. Consider reserving a tucked-away booth, which can serve as a sound barrier.
  3. Use Sound-Reduction Features: Options vary across AGX® Hearing devices, but some offer a “restaurant” setting that cuts background noise, or you can create your own geotagged “memory” with sound settings tailored to specific locations.
  4. Direct the Mic: Use your AGX® hearing aid’s directionality function to focus the device’s microphones on speech and other sounds in front of you versus the noise behind you.
  5. Enlist Your Companions: A wireless Bluetooth® microphone worn on your companion’s lapel can send speech directly to your hearing aid, or you can place the mic in a central spot for group conversations.