How Can You Adjust to Hearing Aids?

There are two things you need to account for when fitting a new hearing aid: the physical comfort of the device and its performance. Hearing devices are designed to be ergonomic and comfortable; they can also be easily optimized – use the tips below to adjust your device.

Wearing Them at Home

When you start using a hearing aid for the first time, you need to find the baseline for it; this means your comfort zone and the baseline functionality of the device. To achieve this, you will first have to wear the hearing aid in a quiet and familiar environment; your home is best.

Start wearing your hearing aid around the house and interacting with family members in an ordinary way; this allows you to set a baseline for your hearing device, giving you a way to measure its performance. Remember to tell your family that you are testing out your device.

Practice Wearing Them

When you start wearing a hearing aid, you will notice a lot of changes in your hearing capacity. Some environmental sounds become clearer and louder, while others might change subtly or radically. It’s important to spend some time adjusting the device to your sonic comfort zone.

It’s important to spend some time practicing with your new hearing device; this doesn’t mean simply living with the device and noticing changes. Intentional practice like listening to audiobooks and TV then adjusting the settings is much more useful.

Take a Break from Them

Introducing a new hearing aid to your life is a slow and steady process; if you do this gradually, you can remain conscious of your natural healing capacity. When you are familiar with your natural hearing capacities, it’s easier to notice when changes occur and you can react quickly.

Only wear your hearing aid for a few hours on the first day; this allows you to adjust to the augmented environment but still retain an orientation with your natural healing capacity. The next day and the day after, you can increase the number of hours you wear your hearing device.

Visit Your Hearing Health Professional

It’s unlikely that you’re hearing device with work perfectly right away; most people visit their hearing specialist two weeks after having the device fitted to adjust it and to talk about any of the challenges they have encountered adjusting to life with the device. Always attend follow-ups.

A hearing health provider will talk to you about your recent experiences with the device; they will cover the comfort levels you experience with the device along with the performance of the hearing aid. This is your chance to improve the fit of the device in your ear and optimize it for better function.

Attend Some Classes

Normally your personal hearing health professional will tell you how to use the hearing device and fit it for you so that it’s comfortable and performs well; they will also tell you how to clean and care for the device.

If you can’t get a fast appointment with your hearing care provider or you prefer a class situation, you can attend a hearing aid care class with a device expert. At a care class, you will learn about different hearing devices, advanced functionality and how to best care for them at home.

Practice Patience

When you introduce a hearing aid to your life, there are a lot of changes to the way you hear your environment. Hearing aid devices are designed to enhance the sounds in an environment, but if your hearing has been affected, these sounds might be louder and more troubling.

For example, the sound of a refrigerator is background noise to most people, but if you haven’t heard it for some time and it is suddenly brought into focus, it can overload your hearing and cause stress. It’s time to be patient and adjust; eventually, your brain will reorientate itself.

Report any Discomfort

If your hearing aid device has been specially designed for your particular ear, it should fit your ear from the start without too many issues; but that doesn’t mean it’s going to feel perfect; you might still feel some discomfort in the fit or in the way the device is optimized for your life.

It’s important to report any discomfort to your hearing health professional. The aim of fitting a hearing aid is to have a hearing device that has a minimal impact on your life, and this is possible. Never think that you are taxing your hearing health provider; they are dedicated to fitting and optimizing your device.

Call Hearing & Balance Services of Reston for more information on hearing aids today at (703) 297-8715!