Getting used to your hearing aids

Hearing aids are fantastic devices allowing us to hear sounds we may have been missing for a long time. However, hearing aids can take some getting used to. If your hearing loss has been gradual, slowly declining over years, then you may have become accustomed to hearing this way. With gradual hearing losses sometimes we do not even realise we are missing sounds anymore because our hearing has declined so slowly we don’t notice the changes. Therefore, bringing back all of these sounds again with hearing aids can be a shock, and it can take some time to get used to hearing some of these things again. Speech should sound a lot clearer, however you may notice the ’s’ sounds are much more prominent, as well as sounds like footsteps, running water, and the indicator noises in your car. This is completely normal and may take some time to adjust to.

Because of this, your audiologist will work with you to set your hearing aids up to a comfortable level not only based on your hearing requirements, but also based on how you feel. The audiologist can adjust volume as well as certain sounds or pitches to make them more comfortable for you initially, and eventually these can be increased or readjusted as you get accustomed to them. Most hearing aids also have an automatic adjustment setting programmed in. This allows the aids to very slowly increase in volume over time, so slowly that you should not notice. This allows the hearing aids to reach their optimum level for your hearing in a gradual and comfortable way.

It is also up to you to help yourself when adjusting to wearing hearing devices. This means, if you can, wearing your hearing aids as often as possible as this will help the adjustment process. We want you to hear better, and we want you to be comfortable and happy with your hearing aids. So please do not hesitate to contact us if there is anything you wish to talk about, or if you feel any further adjustments need to be made.