The trouble started when I hit highway speeds.  Up until then my hearing aids worked just fine but soon the rising cacophony of wind noise, humming tires and the rumble of the engine would drown out my wife’s voice.  A road trip became an exercise in frustration.

I simply couldn’t carry on a normal conversation.

The solution was an affordable and often overlooked device: the remote microphone.  It removes virtually all the extraneous noise and delivers the speaker’s voice clean and clear to my hearing aids.  It works brilliantly in the car. Our conversations are once again as clear as if we were alone in a quiet room.

Remote mics also come in handy across a range of other situations including restaurants and the dreaded cocktail party by virtually eliminating background noise.

Remote mics are small, light units that are clipped onto to the speaker’s collar or lapel, or held up in front of them.  They feature a near field electromagnetic microphone that, as the name suggests, picks up only the sound coming from a foot or two away.  It’s then transferred via Bluetooth directly to the hearing aids.

Of course, you need Bluetooth equipped hearing aids, and you can use the smartphone app to make adjustments.  For example you can set a balance between the sound coming from the remote mic and the sound coming from your hearing aid microphones.

Mine has also proven to be very helpful when taking a walking tour of a city or gallery for instance.  I simply ask the guide if I may clip the mic on them.  It means I can stand at the back of the group and hear them clearly.  They also come in pretty handy when listening to lectures and presentations.

It’s also nice to be able to have a one-on-one conversation in a busy restaurant without having to contend with the din of other diners and the clatter of dishes.

Remote mics can also be useful at parties when the person’s voice you are trying to talk to one-on-one disappears in the hubbub and babble.  You might feel a little awkward, but on the other hand not understanding, or worse misunderstanding, the person speaking is usually much more awkward.

All in all, remote mics are a very beneficial adjunct to modern hearing aids.

All of the major hearing aid makers offer them including Widex, Oticon, ReSound, Signia, Phonak and Bernafon.  Mine is a Starkey Remote Microphone +  (pictured)

The average cost is between $200 and $300 and it’s well worth asking your audiologist about them.