Tips for participating in sports

Playing tennis

Wear a baseball cap or sun visor to help keep your coil on and protect the processor. Frequently wipe off your processor with a dry towel.

Biking

For protection, always wear a helmet to protect your head from impact and reduce wind noise. To help hold your ear-level equipment in place, try using a sweatband or thin cap with a helmet.  Because a helmet limits how much you hear, take additional safety precautions such as using a lapel microphone, wearing a fluorescent vest or attaching a mirror to your bike or helmet.

Helpful Hint
If you have an autosensitivity program on your processor, use it when traffic noise becomes too loud. ESPrit 3G users who have “audio mixing” enabled can use the ‘T’ setting to reduce the sensitivity of the microphone.

Helpful Hint
Don’t adjust your speech processor while biking. First stop in a safe place, and then adjust it.

Snow skiing

While skiing, wear your body-worn speech processor in a harness or pouch under layers of clothing to keep it warm and to avoid damaging it if you fall.

Wear a thin breathable cap under your helmet. Avoid hats that trap moisture as this can affect the microphone.   A thin stocking cap will ease the helmet over your coil and BTE processor or microphone and prevent them from being knocked off.

Boating

When you wear a body-worn processor while rafting, sailing or fishing, put the processor in a zip-lock plastic bag. If you use the small, snack-size zip-lock bags, put the processor in the bag, and leave the cable outside of the bag. Zip up the bag as close to the cable as possible. If you use a large zip-lock bag, place the processor in it with the bag’s opening facing down. This will allow any moisture that gets inside to drip out. It will also prevent moisture from running along the cable into the processor. Use double bags for extra protection.
 

Swimming or water activities

You can swim and participate in water sports, as long as you do not wear your processor and headset in the water. Consider leaving your headset and processor at home when you go to a lake, pool or beach. The processor is especially vulnerable to sand, water, sunlight and high temperatures.

For SCUBA divers, the internal implant was informally tested to withstand pressure at a depth of 25 meters (82 feet) underwater.  However, it is recommended that you check with your surgeon or clinician before participating in a dive.  There may be other medical conditions that you will need to consider which could make diving unsafe for you.

If you do take your headset and processor with you, remember to take them off before you go into the water. Also, take these additional precautions:

• Place your speech processor in a plastic zip-lock bag, and seal it tightly.
• Keep your processor away from direct sunlight. Don't leave it in a hot car.
• Dry your hair well before you put on your headset and processor. Wet hair can damage these components.