Congrats! Modern hearing aids are an impressive piece of technology, and you’ve recently become the proud owner of a shiny new set. But, as with all new devices, there are things that hearing aid owners wish someone had informed them about.
Let’s examine how a new hearing aid user can avoid the 9 most common hearing aid mistakes.
1. Not learning how hearing aids work
To put it bluntly, learn your hearing aid’s functions. It most likely has exclusive features that significantly improve the hearing experience in different settings like restaurants, movie theaters, or walking down the street.
Your wireless devices, including smartphones and televisions can probably sync wirelessly to your hearing aids. Additionally, it might have a special setting that helps you hear on the phone.
If you fail to learn about these functions, it’s so easy to get stuck in a rut by using your technologically-sophisticated hearing aid in a rudimentary way. Modern hearing aids do more than simply increase the volume of external sounds.
Practice using your hearing aid in different settings in order to learn how to attain the clearest sound quality. Ask a friend or family member to help you so you can check how well you can hear.
As with anything new, it will get easier after a little practice. Simply raising and lowering the volume won’t even come close to providing the hearing experience that using these more advanced features will.
2. Thinking that your hearing will automatically improve
In line with number one, many new hearing aid users think their hearing will be optimal as they leave the office. This is an incorrect assumption. Some say it takes a month or more before they are completely comfortable with their hearing aid. But stay positive. They also say it’s very worth it.
Give yourself a few days, after getting home, to get used to your new situation. It won’t be that much different than breaking in new shoes. You may need to use it in short intervals.
Start by just quietly talking with friends. It can be somewhat disorienting initially because voices might sound different. Ask about your own voice volume and make corrections.
Slowly increase the time you wear your hearing aids and gradually add new places to visit.
You will have wonderful hearing experiences in front of you if you can just be patient with yourself.
3. Being dishonest about your degree of hearing loss at your hearing exam
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 perhaps you weren’t as honest as you may have been, come back and ask to be retested. Getting it straight the first time is easier. The degree and kind of hearing loss will determine the hearing aid styles that work best for you.
As an example, individuals with hearing loss in the high frequency range will require a particular type of hearing aid. Others are better for those with mid-frequency hearing loss and so on.
4. Neglecting to have your hearing aid fitted
Your hearing aids need to handle a few requirements at the same time: they need to be comfortable on or in your ears, they need to be simple to place and remove, and they need to boost the sounds around you effectively. All three of those variables will be resolved during your fitting.
During hearing aid fitting sessions, you may:
- Do hearing tests to adjust the appropriate power for your hearing aid.
- Have molds of your ears made and measurements taken.
5. Not tracking your results
Once you’ve been fitted, it’s important to take notes on how your hearing aid feels and performs. Make a note if you are having difficulty hearing in a large room. If your right ear seems tighter than your left, note that. If everything feels great, make a note. This can help us make personalized, tiny adjustments to help your hearing aids reach peak comfort and effectiveness.
6. Not anticipating how you’ll use your hearing aids
Water-resistant hearing aids do exist. Others, however, can be damaged or even destroyed by water. Perhaps you take pleasure in certain activities and you are willing to pay extra for more sophisticated features.
You can ask our opinion but the choice is yours. Only you know which state-of-the-art features you’ll actually use and that’s worth investing in because if the hearing aids don’t work with your lifestyle you won’t use them.
You and your hearing aid will be together for a number of years. So you don’t want to be disappointed by settling when you really would have benefited from a certain function.
A few more things to contemplate
- You may prefer something that is extremely automated. Or perhaps you enjoy having more control over the volume. How much battery life will you need?
- To be completely satisfied, talk about these preferences before your fitting.
- How visible your hearing aid is might be important to you. Or maybe you want to wear them with style.
Many issues that come up regarding fit, lifestyle, and how you use your hearing aids can be resolved through the fitting process. Also, you might be able to demo out your hearing aids before you commit to a purchase. During this trial period, you’ll be able to get a sense of whether a particular brand of hearing aid would be right for you.
7. Not properly taking care of your hearing aids
The majority of hearing aids are quite 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 is a bad idea.
Consistently wash your hands before handling the hearing aid or batteries. The performance of your hearing aid and the longevity of its battery can be impacted by the oils normally found in your skin.
Don’t let earwax or skin cells build up on the hearing aid. Instead, the manufacturer’s recommended cleaning procedures should be implemented.
Taking simple steps like these will increase the life and function of your hearing aid.
8. Failing to have a set of spare batteries
New hearing aid wearers frequently learn this concept at the worst times. When you’re about to discover who did it at the crucial moment of your favorite show, your batteries quit without warning.
Like many electronic devices, battery life varies depending on how you use it and the outside environment. So always keep an extra set of batteries nearby, even if you recently replaced them. Don’t miss out on something important because of an unpredictable battery.
9. Neglecting your hearing exercises
You might assume that your hearing aids will do all of the work when you first purchase them. But it’s not just your ears that are affected by hearing loss, it’s also the parts of your brain responsible for interpreting all those sounds.
You can begin to work on restoring those ear-to-brain pathways after you get your new hearing aids. For some people, this may happen rather naturally and this is particularly true if the hearing loss developed recently. But for other people, a deliberate approach may be necessary to get your hearing firing on all cylinders again. The following are a couple of prevalent strategies.
Reading out loud
One of the most efficient ways you can recreate those connections between your ears and your brain is to spend some time reading out loud. Even if you feel a bit odd at first you should still practice like this. You’re practicing reconnecting the feeling of saying words with the sounds they make. Your hearing will get better and better as you keep practicing.
Audiobooks
You can always try 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. This will teach the language parts of your brain to understand speech again.
Resources
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK10900/
