Is noise the real problem?
If the trouble is noise, not hearing the game, start with the sensory football games guide.
See the sensory games guidePlaying Football With a Hearing Aid or Cochlear Implant: A Garden Guide
Kit, Rules & Safety
Most children can play football with a hearing device.
The device needs a plan: secure it, keep it dry and keep the ball soft and low, then check anything specific with your audiologist or implant centre. Playing football with a hearing aid or cochlear implant is usually possible, and UK sources say most children can join in with sensible precautions (Southampton, NDCS). For a cochlear implant the part to protect is the one under the skin, from a direct hit by a ball or a clash of heads.
For a long time I assumed a ball game and a child's hearing device simply did not mix, and I only found out how much of the advice is practical and cheerful after reading it properly. I am a dad, not an audiologist, so everything below is a starting point to check with the people who know your child's device. The final say belongs to your audiologist or implant centre, and the manufacturer's guide for your device comes first.
Start here
Hearing Aid Sport Safety for Football: The Short Answer
The University of Southampton Auditory Implant Service guide to sport says having a cochlear implant generally does not affect the ability to play sports. The condition is that the implant is not directly hit, for example by a ball or a clash of heads. It adds that a direct blow can damage it. The National Deaf Children's Society advice on wearing hearing aids says children can wear hearing aids in most sports, but to consider whether a blow to the head could damage the ear or the hearing aid.
The difference is simple. A hearing aid is worn outside the ear, while a cochlear implant has a part under the skin as well as the sound processor worn outside, and it is the part under the skin that a direct hit can damage. Sources do not all agree on headgear, so the person who knows your child's device decides.
For a child in a cast the clinic decides what is allowed, and the same logic applies here: your audiologist or implant centre knows this device and this child. Keep the user guide for your model to hand too, because manufacturers supply the safety information for their own devices (Cochlear's safety answers, collected by the British Cochlear Implant Group).
Decide by the game
A Child With a Cochlear Implant Playing Football: Wear, Secure or Remove
The table covers a hearing aid or a cochlear implant sound processor and says where the sources differ. None of it replaces the manufacturer's guide.
| Play situation | What to do | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Gentle kickabout, soft ball, low passes | Wear it, secured | Most children should be able to play football in PE without protective headgear. A retainer or a thin headband helps steady the device so it stays put, as long as the microphone stays uncovered. |
| Hot, sweaty running | Wear it, with a thin sweatband, and dry it afterwards | Sweat is a moisture risk for the device. A thin sweatband around the forehead is common advice and helps keep sweat off the device and the device steadier, as long as the microphone stays uncovered. Dry it as your service advises. |
| Harder ball, shots at head height or close-range keeper games | Change the game first, then ask about soft headgear | Swap to a soft ball and keep shots low, the same rule as in the glasses guide. Cochlear recommends soft headgear for sports with some risk of impact from a ball, and Southampton calls it sensible when many fast, hard balls are flying. |
| Heading, a sibling scrum or any head clash | Stop that part of the game and skip heading | A clash of heads or a ball on the implant can damage it. Where there is a big risk of blows to the head the external parts should be removed. Taking the processor off keeps it safe, but it does nothing for the part under the skin, so stopping that part of the game is what protects the implant. |
| Drizzle, a sprinkler, a hose or a paddling pool | Shelter it, or take it off for water play | In a sudden shower a cap peak turned over the processor is one tip. Hearing aids are only water resistant and come off for swimming or bathing. Some implant processors have waterproof options, so check your own guide. |
| Recently implanted | Do not play; follow your implant team | Southampton says to avoid any bang to the head for the first 6 to 8 weeks. Great Ormond Street says children need two weeks off school and should avoid sports and rough play after surgery. Neither is a green light for a kickabout, so ask your team before any game. |
The table draws on Southampton, Cochlear, NDCS, the participant guide on hearing devices in sport, one NHS cochlear implant programme's advice and Great Ormond Street Hospital's cochlear implant page.
Skip heading altogether. For primary-school-age children The FA's heading guidance is no heading in training, and Boston Children's Hospital's advice for football says soccer players with implants should not head the ball. The full guidance is in Should Children Head the Ball in Football? Removing the device also removes the child's hearing, which is the reason for the stop signals further down.
Keeping it on
Protecting a Hearing Device During Football Play: Headbands, Retainers and Clips
Four ideas cover most children.
- A thin sweatband or headband around the head to steady the device, with the microphone left uncovered (participant guide, Southampton).
- A retainer that wraps the ear (retainers and headbands).
- A clip with a cord if the worry is losing it, with the cord worn on its shortest length, clipped to clothing and not looped round the neck. Cords should be positioned so they do not pose a risk of strangulation (participant guide).
- A sports band or soft headgear if your centre recommends it (the National Deaf Children's Society guide to sport and deaf children, Cochlear).
Headbands help avoid hours of scouring a sports field for missing equipment. Do not modify a helmet or headgear, as that can reduce the protection it gives, and a helmet may reduce impact forces but will not fully protect the device (participant guide). Manufacturers make their own headbands and safety lines, and Cochlear's own accessories for keeping a processor on shows what exists, which is not proof of what a child needs.
A band should not cover the microphone, so check it with your audiologist. A headband helps steady a device, and a retainer or clip is for keeping hold of it. Whether it also needs padding or headgear is the audiologist's call. These are product ideas from charity, university and manufacturer pages, not tested for football.
One minute, every session
Before Kick-Off: The 60-Second Device Check
The check takes about a minute and can be done while the ball is being found.
- 1
Snug fit. The device sits snug behind the ear with the band or retainer on and the microphone uncovered.
- 2
Battery and spare. Fresh or charged, and ask your service what spares are worth carrying.
- 3
Dry check. Wipe off any sweat before you start, and use the drying kit afterwards, because Southampton suggests a drying box every day.
- 4
Signals agreed. Stop, device off and look at me, as set out in the next section.
- 5
Safe spot. Choose where it goes if it comes off or is taken off, such as a small lidded pot on a shelf by the back door, never a pocket or the lawn. Keep the device and any spare batteries out of reach of younger children and pets.
- 6
Phone ready. The centre's number is saved, because after any bump to the head near the implant Cochlear advises contacting the implant centre.
If a hearing aid is lost or damaged, contact your audiology service. One NHS trust's lost hearing aid policy charges nothing for under-18s, but check your own.
Hearing the game
When the Device Is Off: Agreeing a Stop Signal
Southampton notes that football players must listen for a whistle to know when there is a stoppage and may not be able to lip-read a call from a distance. It also advises having a signal others know in case the device is knocked off. The National Deaf Children's Society suggests replacing whistles with hand signals, coloured flags or flashing lights, and facing the child when you speak. If aids come off, use visual signals, writing or sign language.
Agree three signals before kick-off:
- Stop. A flat hand raised high, or a bright cloth or cone held up, and everything freezes.
- My device is off. A hand to the ear, and the game pauses while it is checked or put back.
- Look at me. A wave, then wait for eye contact before speaking.
Never call instructions from behind, and say the call after the child has looked at you. If noise rather than hearing is the sticking point, the sensory football games guide covers turning the game down.
"Shall we agree three signals before we start? A flat hand up means everyone freezes, a hand on your ear means we pause and check it, and a wave means look at me. You can use them too, any time."
What is known and what is not
What the Guidance and Studies Say, and What They Do Not
Guidance differs. The University of Southampton Auditory Implant Service guide to sport says most children can play football in PE lessons without protective headgear unless many fast, hard balls are flying. Hear and Say's guide to sports with cochlear implants recommends headgear for semi-contact sports including soccer, and Cochlear's guidance recommends soft headgear for sports with some risk of impact. These are three organisations in the UK and Australia, partly aimed at PE or club sport, and none tested garden football, which is why the audiologist decides.
A retrospective chart review at one centre covered 149 implants in 121 children under 18 and found that 10 of the 149 implants (6.7 percent) needed revision surgery, and six of those 10 were hard failures, all with a history of head injury. Read a review of cochlear implant failure in children. It was a single centre, with one manufacturer's devices and small numbers, and it does not isolate football or say how likely any single knock is to cause damage.
This page does not use US head-injury statistics or helmet figures, because they describe American sport, not a UK garden. I would rather say that the evidence is thin than pretend a headband is a guarantee.
Quick answers
Common Questions About Hearing Devices and Football
Can a child with a cochlear implant play football?
Usually yes. The University of Southampton Auditory Implant Service says having an implant generally does not affect the ability to play sports, as long as the implant is not directly hit by a ball or a clash of heads. Your implant centre has the final say.
Can my child wear a hearing aid to play football?
Children can wear hearing aids in most sports, but consider whether a blow to the head could damage the ear or the hearing aid, and use a retainer or sports headband. Ask your audiologist about your child's device.
Does a child with a cochlear implant need a helmet for football?
Sources differ. One implant-service guide says most children can play football in PE without headgear unless many fast, hard balls are flying, while Cochlear and an Australian clinic recommend soft headgear for sports with some risk of impact. Ask your implant centre.
How do I keep a hearing aid or processor on during sport?
A thin sweatband or headband, a retainer or a clip with a cord are the common options. Wear cords on their shortest length, clipped to clothing and not looped round the neck, to reduce the strangulation risk.
What if my child's device falls off or gets knocked?
Agree a signal to pause the game, check the device and keep a safe spot for it. After any bump to the head near an implant, contact your implant centre. For a lost hearing aid, contact your audiology service.
Can my child head the ball with a cochlear implant?
Skip it. Boston Children's Hospital says soccer players with implants should not head the ball, and The FA's guidance for primary-school-age children is no heading in training (The FA's heading guidance).
Keep going
Where to Go From Here
Three places to go next, depending on what you need. Noise matters at a live match too, and a first live football match with your child plans for it.
Another thing worn on the head?
Glasses need the same low shots and no heading, plus eyewear that survives a ball.
See the glasses guideWant the full kit and safety list?
Boots, ball, pads and playing safely in any weather.
See Kit, Rules & SafetyTonight's five minutes
Agree three signals, then play.
Run the 60-second check, pick a safe spot for the device and agree stop, device off and look at me before the first pass.