Congrats! You’ve just become the proud owner of hearing aids – a wonderful piece of modern technology. But new hearing aid users will wish somebody had told them certain things, as with any new technology.
Let’s go over nine typical mistakes new hearing aid owners make and how you can steer clear of them.
1. Not learning how hearing aids work
To put it simply, learn your hearing aid’s functions. It probably has exclusive features that considerably enhance the hearing experience in different settings like restaurants, movie theaters, or walking down the street.
Your wireless devices, like smartphones and televisions can most likely connect wirelessly to your hearing aids. Additionally, it might have a specific setting that helps you hear on the phone.
If you don’t learn about these features, it’s so easy to get stuck in a rut by using your technologically-sophisticated hearing aid in a rudimentary way. Hearing aids nowadays can do more than make the sound louder.
Practice wearing your hearing aid in different settings in order to learn how to attain the clearest sound quality. Check out how well you hear by getting a friend or family member to assist you.
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 using 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 perfect as they leave the office. This is an incorrect assumption. 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 well worth it according to those who are persistent.
After getting home, give yourself a couple of days to get used to the new experience. It’s like breaking in a new pair of shoes. You might need to wear it in short intervals.
Start in a calm setting with a friend where you’re just talking. It can be somewhat disorienting initially because people’s voices may sound different. Ask about your own voice volume and make adjustments.
Slowly increase the time you wear your hearing aids and gradually add new places to visit.
Be patient with yourself, and you’ll have countless great hearing experiences to look forward to.
3. Being dishonest about your degree of hearing loss at your hearing assessment
Responding truthfully to the questions during your hearing exam will ensure you get fitted with the correct hearing aid technology.
If you already have your hearing aid and realize that maybe you weren’t as honest as you might have been, go back and get retested. 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 have.
As an example, people with hearing loss in the high frequency range will need 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
Your hearing aids need to juggle a few requirements at the same time: They need to efficiently boost sound, they need to be simple to put in and take out, and they need to be comfortable in your ears. All three of those variables will be addressed during your fitting.
When you’re getting fitted, you may:
- Undergo hearing tests to adjust the correct power for your hearing aid.
- Have molds of your ears made and measurements taken.
5. Not tracking your results
It’s highly recommended that you take notes on how your hearing aid performs and feels after 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 make a note if everything feels great. With this information, we can customize the settings of your hearing aid so it functions at peak efficiency and comfort.
6. Not foreseeing how you’ll use your hearing aids
Some hearing aids are water-resistant. However, water can seriously damage others. Perhaps you enjoy certain activities and you are willing to pay extra for more sophisticated features.
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 work with your lifestyle you won’t wear them.
You’ll be using 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.
Some other things to consider
- 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 important to you?
- How visible your hearing aid is might be something you’re worried about. Or perhaps you want to wear them with style.
- Speak with us about these things before your fitting so you can be sure you’re completely satisfied.
During the fitting process we can deal with many of the challenges regarding lifestyle, fit, and how you use your hearing aids. In addition, many hearing aid makers will let you try out the devices before making a decision. This demo period will help you determine which brand will be best for your needs.
7. Failing 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 not a good idea to keep your hearing aid in the bathroom where people take showers.
Always 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 present in your skin.
The hearing aid shouldn’t be allowed to collect earwax and skin cells. Instead, the manufacturer’s recommended cleaning procedures should be followed.
Taking simple steps like these will improve the life and function of your hearing aid.
8. Failing to have a set of spare batteries
Often, it’s the worst time when new hearing aid owners learn this one. When you’re about to discover who did it at the crucial 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 even if you just replaced your batteries, keep an extra set with you. Don’t miss out on something important because of an unpredictable battery.
9. Neglecting your hearing exercises
When you first purchase 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 just your ears that are affected by hearing loss, it’s also the parts of your brain in charge of interpreting all those sounds.
Once you’ve got your hearing aids, you’ll be able to start the work of restoring some of those ear-to-brain pathways and links. For some people, this may happen quite naturally and this is especially true if the hearing loss happened recently. But for other people, a deliberate strategy may be required to get your hearing back to normal again. The following are a couple of common 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 at first 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). 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 go the audiobook route. You can buy (or rent from the library) a physical copy of a book and the audiobook version of that same text. Then as the audiobook plays, you can read along. 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 accustomed to hearing (and making sense of) speech again.
Resources
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK10900/
