Congratulations! Modern hearing aids are an impressive piece of technology, and you’ve recently become the proud owner of a shiny new set. But new hearing aid users will wish someone had told them certain things, as with any new technology.
Let’s assess how a new hearing aid user can eliminate the 9 most common hearing aid errors.
1. Not learning how hearing aids work
To put it simply, learn your hearing aid’s features. It likely has unique features that drastically improve the hearing experience in different environments like restaurants, theaters, or walking down the street.
It may be able to sync wirelessly to your smartphone, TV, or stereo. In addition, it may have a special setting that helps you hear on the phone.
If you use this sophisticated technology in such a rudimentary way, without learning about these features, you can easily become stuck in a rut. Modern hearing aids do more than simply increase the volume of external sounds.
Practice wearing your hearing aid in different places in order to learn how to get the clearest sound quality. Ask a friend or family member to help you so you can test how well you can hear.
After a little practice, as with anything new, it will get easier. Just raising and lowering the volume won’t even come close to providing the hearing experience that utilizing these more sophisticated features will.
2. Expecting immediate improvement in your hearing
Consistent with number one, many new hearing aid users think their hearing will be optimal as they walk out of the office. This is an incorrect assumption. It normally takes up to a month for most new users to get comfortable with their new hearing aids. But stay positive. They also say it’s really worth it.
After you get home, give yourself a couple of days to get used to the new experience. It won’t be that much different than breaking in new shoes. Usually, you will need to go slow and use your new hearing aids a little at a time.
Start by just talking quietly with friends. It can be somewhat disorienting initially because voices may not sound the same. Ask your friends if you’re talking too loud and make the required adjustments.
Slowly begin to visit new places and use the hearing aid for longer periods of time.
Be patient with yourself, and you’ll have many wonderful hearing experiences to look forward to.
3. Being untruthful about your degree of hearing loss at your hearing assessment
In order to be sure you get the right hearing aid technology, it’s essential to answer any questions we may ask honestly.
Go back and get another test if you realize you might not have been entirely honest after you get your hearing aids. Getting it right the first time is easier. The hearing aid type and style that will be ideal for you will be determined by the degree and kind of hearing loss you’re experiencing.
As an example, people with hearing loss in the high frequency range will require a specific type of hearing aid. Others are better for those with mid-frequency hearing loss and so on.
4. Not getting a hearing aid fitting
There are numerous requirements that your hearing aids need to simultaneously juggle: They need to effectively amplify sound, they need to be simple to put in and take out, and they need to be comfortable in your ears. Your hearing aid fitting is intended to correctly calibrate all three of those factors for your personal requirements.
When you’re getting fitted, you might:
- Undergo hearing tests to adjust the correct power for your hearing aid.
- Have your ears precisely measured or have molds made (or both).
5. Not tracking your results
It’s highly recommended that you take notes on how your hearing aid performs and feels once you get fitted. Make a note if you are having difficulty hearing in a large room. Make a note if one ear seems tighter than the other. Even note if everything feels right on. With this information, we can customize the settings of your hearing aid so it functions at peak effectiveness and comfort.
6. Not foreseeing how you’ll use your hearing aids
Water-resistant hearing aids are available. Others, however, can be damaged or even ruined by water. Some have state-of-the-art features you might be willing to pay more for because you enjoy certain activities.
We can give you some suggestions but you must decide for yourself. Only you know what state-of-the-art features you’ll actually use and that’s worth committing to because if the hearing aids don’t fit in with your lifestyle you won’t use them.
You’ll be wearing your hearing aid for a long time. So you don’t want to regret settling when you really would have benefited from a certain feature.
A few more things to contemplate
- Consult with us about these things before your fitting so you can be certain you’re completely satisfied.
- Perhaps you want a high level of automation. Or perhaps you like having more control over the volume. Is a longer battery life important to you?
- You might care about whether your hearing aid is able to be seen. Or, you may want to make a bold statement.
Throughout the fitting process we can deal with many of the challenges with regards to lifestyle, fit, and how you use your hearing aids. Also, you may be able to demo out your hearing aids before you commit to a purchase. During this test period, you’ll be able to get a sense of whether a specific brand of hearing aid would fit the bill.
7. Not correctly taking care of your hearing aids
The majority of hearing aids are very sensitive to moisture. If you live in a humid place, acquiring a dehumidifier may be worth the investment. Storing your hearing aid in the bathroom where people bathe is a bad idea.
Always wash your hands before touching the hearing aid or batteries. The performance of your hearing aid and the duration of its battery can be impacted by the oils naturally found in your skin.
Don’t let earwax or skin cells accumulate on the hearing aid. Instead, the manufacturer’s suggested cleaning procedures should be followed.
Taking simple actions like these will increase the life and function of your hearing aid.
8. Failing to have a set of spare batteries
New hearing aid users often learn this concept at the worst times. When you’re about to find out who did it at the critical moment of your favorite show, your batteries die without warning.
Your battery life depends, like any electronic device, on the external environment and how you use it. So always keep a spare set of batteries nearby, even if you just replaced them. Don’t let an unpredictable battery cause you to miss out on something important.
9. Not practicing your hearing exercises
When you first get your hearing aids, there might be an assumption, and it’s not always a baseless assumption, that your hearing aid will do all the heavy lifting. But it’s not only your ears that are impacted by hearing loss, it’s also the parts of your brain in charge of interpreting all those sounds.
You can start to work on restoring those ear-to-brain pathways once you get your new hearing aids. For some people, this might happen quite naturally and this is particularly true if the hearing loss developed recently. But for other people, a deliberate strategy might be required to get your hearing back to normal again. A couple of typical strategies include the following.
Reading out loud
One of the best ways you can recreate those pathways between your ears and your brain is to spend some time reading out loud. It may feel a little foolish at first, but don’t let that stop you. You’re practicing reconnecting the feeling of saying words with the sounds they make. The more you establish those connections, the better your hearing (and your hearing aid) will work.
Audiobooks
If you’re uncomfortable with the idea of reading something out loud yourself, then you can always try audiobooks. You can get a physical copy of the book and an audio copy. Then as the audiobook plays, you can read along. You’ll hear a word while you’re reading it just like reading out loud. And that helps the hearing-and-language region of your brain get used to hearing (and understanding) speech again.
Resources
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK10900/