It’s no secret that Grapevine has some amazing vineyards and wineries. A trip to the winery is an excellent way to spend time with friends while sipping your favorite reds, whites and rosés. Unfortunately, for those with hearing loss, lively conversation and alcohol can form a challenging combination.
Let’s take a look at how alcohol affects speech understanding and what you can do to accommodate your hearing loss for a better experience.
How Does Alcohol Affect Speech Understanding?
Alcohol has a few short-term effects on your system. The effects that can hinder communication include:
- Slurred speech. When people speak unclearly, it’s harder for someone with hearing loss to fill in the missing sounds or words.
- Blurred vision. You rely on things like facial cues and body language to add context to speech. Blurred vision can make it difficult for you to comprehend those clues.
- Confusion. Alcohol can slow mental processing and make it harder to follow conversations. For someone with hearing loss, this compounds the challenge of decoding speech.
- Slower reaction time. Individuals with hearing loss require more mental effort to process speech than those without. When alcohol slows your reaction time, you need even more mental energy to understand others.
These short-term effects don’t mean you have to skip the next trip to the winery. With a few simple tips, you can enjoy your night out without struggling to keep up.
Tips To Improve Communication
Try a few of the following tips for a more relaxing winery experience:
- Drink slowly. Taking advantage of a tasting menu that offers small amounts of each wine will allow you to participate without dulling your communication senses.
- Sit at the right table. Call ahead and ask for a round table, a table in the corner or one outside. Being able to see everyone’s faces will aid speech comprehension.
- Go early. Going early will limit the number of competing noises that make it hard to hear the people at your table.
- Wear hearing aids. Your hearing aids collect and amplify speech to improve understanding. They’re the perfect tool to help you have a great, clear day at the vineyard. Before you go, make sure they’re clean, charged and set to the right volume.
Hearing loss doesn’t need to put a cork in your vineyard fun. Contact Heard It Through The Grapevine Audiology, PC today to talk to one of our specialists about your treatment options.