Hearing Loss, Traffic Safety, and High-Visibility Clothing Author: Dr Brenton Gray Date Posted: 9 December 2020 A recent article from Connect Hearing identified Wildfire Sports & Trek as an industry leader in products to help ensure your safety while out and about when affected by hearing loss. Image from Ronhill.com A common concern that comes with hearing loss is ensuring you’re aware of those around you when walking or cycling on or near a road. To ensure safety while cycling or walking, especially on roads, we recommend staying highly visible. This way, even if you’re unaware of approaching vehicles or people, especially if you are hard of hearing, they have a better chance of seeing you, which reduces the risk of fright, accident or injury. We recommend visibility products like the Wildfire Sports High Vis Safety Vest, with 2 reflective strips front and back, and an elasticated side for a snug fit and 360-degree reflectivity. Headwear can work for your safety, with Headsweats High Visibility Reflective Race Hat, which has a highly reflective surface treatment and reflective piping around the brim and bottom. It’s comfortable too, with a black undervisor to reduce glare, an adjustable buckle and a terry sweatband for maximum airflow. We also recommend Shokz Bone Conduction Headphones, which may help you experience high-quality music, depending on the degree of hearing loss. The headphones use your cheekbones to transmit sound from a connected mobile device to your inner ears, bypassing the eardrums. For more helpful advice and tips for living with hearing loss, check out Connect Hearing's website. About The Author Dr Brenton Gray - Orienteer, Hiker and Wildfire Sports Owner Brenton has orienteered around the world, from Finland to Romania and New Zealand to Italy. In his travels he keeps abreast of the latest trends for athletes running both on- and off-trail. He also loves testing gear for multi-day hikes (see his Larapinta Trail gear checklist blog) and participating in cycling adventures in far away places such as Korea and Lithuania. Brenton isn't looking for absolute perfection in gear; rather, he seeks items that are affordable and effective and that work without fuss. To that end his favourite gear is the Brooks Adrenaline, Salomon Speedcross and 2XU clothing. And his favourite piece of gear? His Osprey Farpoint Trek 75 has gone around the world three times and completed 60 days of rough multi-day hiking. It just works for every adventure.
