Hearing impairments
Find out how your hearing impairment could affect your driving.
Our sense of hearing helps us to detect and respond to other road users and hazards in the road environment. If you have a hearing loss, you may be able to compensate for loss of hearing by relying more on vision and scanning your environment to have a clear understanding of the traffic conditions around you. Whilst your hearing may not affect your driving directly, it could affect your ability to drive safely due to:
- interactions with other medical conditions (such as vision impairment)
- medications
- changes to your balance.
To find out more about living with a hearing impairment, visit the Victorian Deaf Society website (External link).
What you need to do
If you have a hearing impairment, you can stay safe on the road by:
- getting your hearing checked regularly
- consulting your doctor to find out how your hearing may affect your driving
- remembering to wear your hearing aid(s) while driving (if you have hearing aids) and having the aid(s) checked regularly
- having your vision checked regularly – you may be more reliant on good vision to be aware of what’s happening around you.
If you have (or develop) a medical condition that could affect your ability to drive safely, you must notify VicRoads. Drivers are legally required to report to VicRoads any medical conditions that could impact their ability to drive.
Fitness to drive
If you have (or develop) a medical condition that could affect your driving safety, you must notify VicRoads. There could be serious consequences in not reporting a medical condition - Fitness to drive FAQs if you don’t.
Find out what happens after you notify VicRoads.