I recently went white-water rafting with my family on the Kennebek river in Maine following the heaviest winter snows and spring rains in recent memory. On the bus to the drop-off point upriver, the guide explained emergency procedures in the event anyone fell out of the raft. I couldn’t hear the directions, but my wife filled me in. That was fortunate, because on the second set of rapids our raft went vertical and four of our paddlers ended up in the river. All were rescued safely, thanks in part to the briefing we’d just been given. But what happens when there’s no time to get things clear in advance? What happens when you’re in an emergency situation and need to hear directions, such as where the fire exits are? Worse, what happens in a potential conflict with an authority figure — an uptight airport security screener, for instance — who is giving you orders you can’t hear? And worst of all, what happens on a dark night when you get pulled over by state troopers, and you don’t know why, and they approach your car giving orders that you can’t hear? Say the wrong thing or make a wrong move they aren’t expecting — such as hopping out of your car to try to see their faces to lipread better — and you can end up on the ground in handcuffs in a flash. Now there’s a fast, easy and free solution to communicating with the police — a visor card for your car that can clear up the confusion fast when an officer thinks you’re ignoring orders. It’s available as a public service from the HearingLossHelp web site operated by Dr. Neil Bauman, the author of a number of books on coping with hearing loss. You can download the visor for free. Check it out.