Congratulations! You’ve just become the proud owner of hearing aids – a wonderful piece of modern tech. But, as with all new devices, there are things that hearing aid wearers wish someone had informed them about.
Let’s look at nine common mistakes new hearing aid owners make and how to steer clear of them.
1. Not learning how hearing aids work
Or, more specifically, know how your hearing aid works. It likely has exclusive features that drastically improve the hearing experience in different environments such as restaurants, movie theaters, or walking down the street.
It may be able to connect wirelessly to your smartphone, TV, or stereo. It may also have a setting that makes phone conversations 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 nowadays can do more than make the sound louder.
In order to get the clearest and best sound quality, take some time to practice using the hearing aid in different places. Ask a family member or friend to help you so you can check how well you can hear.
As with anything new, it will get easier after a bit of practice. Simply turning the volume up and down won’t even come close to giving you the hearing experience that using these more sophisticated features will.
2. Expecting instant improvement in your hearing
It’s not unusual for new hearing aid users to think that their hearing will be perfect from the first day. This isn’t a correct assumption. It typically takes up to a month for most new users to get comfortable with their new hearing aids. But stay positive. The time you take is easily worth it according to those who are persistent.
Give yourself a few days, after you get home, to get used to your new experience. It won’t be that much different than breaking in new shoes. You may need to wear it in short intervals.
Begin by just quietly talking with friends. It can be a bit disorienting at first because voices may not sound the same. Ask your friends if you’re speaking too loud and make the required adjustments.
Slowly increase the time you use your hearing aids and progressively add new places to visit.
Be patient with yourself, and you’ll have lots of great hearing experiences to look forward to.
3. Not being truthful about your degree of hearing loss during your hearing exam
In order to be certain you get the correct hearing aid technology, it’s crucial to answer any questions we may ask honestly.
If you have your hearing aid and realize that perhaps you weren’t as honest as you might have been, come back and ask to be retested. But it’s better if you get it right the first time. The hearing aid type and style that will be ideal for you will be determined by the degree and kind of hearing loss you have.
As an illustration, individuals with hearing loss in the high frequency range will need a particular type of hearing aid. People who have mid-range hearing loss will call for different technology and etc.
4. Not getting a hearing aid fitting
There are numerous requirements that your hearing aids need to simultaneously manage: 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 meant to correctly calibrate all three of those variables for your personal needs.
When you’re getting fitted, you may:
- Undergo hearing tests to calibrate the appropriate power for your hearing aid.
- Have your ears precisely measured or have molds made (or both).
5. Not tracking your results
It’s important 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 big room. If your right ear seems tighter than your left, make a note of that. Even note if everything feels right on. With this information, we can customize the settings of your hearing aid so it works at peak effectiveness and comfort.
6. Not thinking about how you will use your hearing aid ahead of time
Some hearing aids are water-resistant. However, water can significantly damage others. Some have sophisticated features you might be willing to pay more for because you take pleasure in certain activities.
We can give you some recommendations 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 work with your lifestyle you won’t wear them.
You and your hearing aid will be together for a number of years. So you don’t want to regret settling when you really would have benefited from a certain feature.
Some other things to consider
- You may prefer something that is extremely automated. Or perhaps you like having more control over the volume. How much battery life will you require?
- Talk with us about these things before your fitting so you can be certain you’re totally satisfied.
- You might care about whether your hearing aid is visible. Or, you might want to make a bold statement.
Throughout the fitting process we can deal with many of the issues with regards to lifestyle, fit, and how you use your hearing aids. What’s more, many hearing aid manufacturers will let you demo the devices before deciding. During this test period, you’ll be able to get an idea of whether a particular brand of hearing aid would meet your needs.
7. Neglecting to take proper care of your hearing aid
The majority of hearing aids are really sensitive to moisture. If you live in a humid place, getting a dehumidifier might be worth the investment. It’s a bad idea to store your hearing aid in the bathroom where everyone showers.
Always wash your hands before touching the hearing aid or batteries. Oils found normally on your hand can affect how well the hearing aid works and the life of the batteries.
The hearing aid shouldn’t be allowed to accumulate earwax and skin cells. Instead, clean it according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
Taking simple actions like these will increase the life and function of your hearing aid.
8. Failing to keep a set of spare batteries
Frequently, it’s the worst time when new hearing aid users learn this one. Suddenly, when you’re watching your favorite show, your batteries quit just as you’re about to discover “who done it”.
Your battery life depends, like any electronic device, on the external environment and how you use it. So always keep an extra set of batteries handy, even if you just replaced them. Don’t let an unpredictable battery cause you to miss something important.
9. Neglecting your hearing exercises
When you first purchase your hearing aids, there may 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 just your ears that are impacted by hearing loss, it’s also the regions of your brain responsible for interpreting all those sounds.
Once you get your hearing aids, you’ll be able to begin the work of restoring some of those ear-to-brain pathways and links. For some people, this might happen quite naturally and this is especially true if the hearing loss developed recently. But for others, a deliberate approach might be necessary to get your hearing firing on all cylinders again. The following are a couple of common strategies.
Reading out loud
One of the best ways you can restore those pathways between your ears and your brain is to spend some time reading out loud. It might feel a bit foolish at first, but don’t let that stop you. You’re doing the important 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
If you don’t like the idea of reading something out loud personally, then you can always try audiobooks. You can purchase (or rent from the library) a physical copy of a book and the audiobook version of that same text. Then, you read along with the book as the audiobook plays. This does the same job as reading something out loud, you hear a word while you’re reading it. And that helps the hearing-and-language part of your brain get used to hearing (and making sense of) speech again.
Resources
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov