Congrats! Modern hearing aids are an impressive piece of technology, and you’ve just become the proud owner of a shiny new pair. But, just like with any new device, there are things that hearing aid owners wish somebody had informed them about.
Let’s assess how a new hearing aid owner can eliminate the 9 most common hearing aid mistakes.
1. Neglecting to understand hearing aid functionality
To put it simply, learn your hearing aid’s functions. It likely has unique features that considerably improve the hearing experience in different environments like restaurants, movie theaters, or walking down the street.
It may be able to sync wirelessly to your smartphone, TV, or stereo. It may also have a setting that makes phone calls clearer.
If you fail to learn about these features, it’s so easy to get stuck in a rut by using your technologically-sophisticated hearing aid in a basic way. Hearing aids these days can do more than make the sound louder.
Practice using 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.
As with anything new, it will get easier after a little practice. Simply turning the volume up and down won’t even come close to providing the hearing experience that utilizing these more advanced features will.
2. Expecting instant improvement in your hearing
It’s not uncommon for a new hearing aid owner to think that their hearing will be perfect from the first day. This assumption is usually not how it works. Some people say it takes a month or more before they’re completely comfortable with their hearing aid. But stay positive. The time you take is easily worth it according to those who are persistent.
After getting home, give yourself a couple of days to get used to the new situation. It’s like breaking in a new pair of shoes. You might need to use it in short intervals.
Begin by just quietly talking with friends. It can be somewhat disorienting at first because people’s voices may sound different. Ask about your own voice volume and make adjustments.
Slowly start to go to new places and wear 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 dishonest about your degree of hearing loss at your hearing test
Responding truthfully to the questions during your hearing test will ensure you get fitted with the optimum hearing aid technology.
Go back and get another test if you realize you might not have been completely honest after you get your hearing aids. But it’s easier if you get it right the first time. The degree and kind of hearing loss will identify the hearing aid styles that work best for you.
As an example, individuals with hearing loss in the high frequency range will need a specific type of hearing aid. Others are better for people with mid-frequency hearing loss and so on.
4. Failing to have your hearing aid fitted
There are numerous requirements that your hearing aids need to simultaneously manage: They need to effectively boost sound, they need to be easy to put in and remove, and they need to be comfortable in your ears. Your hearing aid fitting is meant to properly calibrate all three of those factors for your individual requirements.
During hearing aid fitting sessions, you may:
- Undergo hearing tests to calibrate the proper power for your hearing aid.
- Have molds of your ears made and measurements taken.
5. Not tracking your results
It’s important that you take notes on how your hearing aid performs and feels after you get fitted. If you have problems hearing in big rooms, make a note of that. Make a note if one ear feels tighter than the other. If everything feels great, make a note. This can help us make custom, minute adjustments to help your hearing aids reach optimum comfort and efficiency.
6. Not foreseeing how you’ll use your hearing aids
Some hearing aids are water-resistant. However, water can seriously damage others. Maybe you take pleasure in certain activities and you are willing to pay extra for more advanced features.
We can give you some suggestions but you must choose for yourself. You won’t use your hearing aid if it doesn’t fit in with your lifestyle and only you know what features you will use.
You’ll be wearing your hearing aid for quite a while. So you don’t want to be disappointed by settling when you really would have benefited from a certain feature.
Some other things to take into consideration
- Perhaps you want a high level of automation. Or perhaps you’re more of a do-it-yourself type of individual. Is a longer battery life essential to you?
- To be entirely satisfied, talk about these preferences before your fitting.
- You may care about whether people can see your hearing aid. Or perhaps you want to wear them with style.
During the fitting process we can address 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 trial period, you’ll be able to get an idea of whether a particular brand of hearing aid would meet your needs.
7. Failing to take proper care of your hearing aid
Most hearing aids are very sensitive to moisture. You might want to invest in a dehumidifier if you live in an overly humid location. Storing your hearing aid in the bathroom where people bathe may not be the best idea.
Consistently wash your hands before handling the hearing aid or batteries. The life of your hearing aid and the duration of its battery can be effected by the oils normally 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.
The life and function of your hearing aid will be improved by taking these basic steps.
8. Failing to keep a spare set of batteries
New hearing aid wearers often learn this lesson at the worst times. All of a sudden, while you’re watching your favorite show, your batteries die just as you’re about to discover “who done it”.
Your battery life depends, like any electronic device, on the outside environment and how you use it. So always keep a spare set of batteries nearby, even if you recently changed them. Don’t let an unpredictable battery cause you to miss out on something important.
9. Not practicing your hearing exercises
You might assume that your hearing aids will do all of the work when you first get them. 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 begin to work on rebuilding those ear-to-brain connections after you get your new hearing aids. This might happen quite naturally for some people, especially if the hearing loss was rather recent. But other people will need a more focused strategy to rebuild their ability to hear. The following are a couple of prevalent strategies.
Reading out loud
Reading out loud is one of the easiest ways to rebuild those pathways between your ears and your brain. Even if you feel a bit weird initially you should still practice like this. You’re doing the essential work of connecting the words (which you read) to the sound (which you say). Your hearing will get better and better as you keep practicing.
Audiobooks
You can always use audiobooks if reading out loud isn’t appealing to you. You can get a physical copy of the book and an audio copy. Then, you read along with the book while the audiobook plays. This does the same work as reading something out loud, you hear words while reading them. And that helps the hearing-and-language region of your brain get accustomed to hearing (and understanding) speech again.
Resources
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK10900/
