Considering Returning Your New Hearing Aids?
Submitted by Larry Bailey, PM, Austin Hearing Services
The onset of hearing loss happens very slowly for most people. Losing your hearing is much less noticeable and easier to get used to than the process of actually fixing it.
The decision to try hearing aids instead of coping with diminished hearing loss might have been big step, but it was only the first step, now you’ve got to get comfortable wearing them endure the set-up process and get over the fact that you are actually wearing them. .
If you’re wearing the hearing aids and wondering if you’ll ever be comfortable again, you might have a hearing aid that wasn’t designed for your unique hearing loss and lifestyle.
Just something to consider!
Hearing problem isn’t going away, and the solution might be easier and closer than you think.
Depending on the type and amount of hearing loss you have, hearing aids can change how familiar sounds are perceived and increase the total number of sounds you are hearing. Any sudden change in our hearing, especially the increased sharpness and volume hearing aids provide can be difficult at first. Keep reminding yourself that your natural hearing is impaired and fixing requires hearing more sounds at a slightly higher volume. Day by day the world of sound you hear through the hearing aids should become more familiar and easier to understand. You will adjust to wearing aids.
But for those of you who’ve put forth the effort, worn them for a week or two, and still don’t like the sound now is not the time to give up. Hearing aids are tools and, like most tools, come in performance/price levels. Getting the tool designed to handle the job means a better chance of getting the job done right.
So, let’s start the process of finding a hearing aid capable meeting your expectations by identifying the 3 most common problems people have with new hearing aids, and offer solutions:
1 – “Hearing aids make all sounds, especially noise, too loud”
• Sounds in the frequencies inaudible to you without amplification will be abnormally loud at first with hearing aids. Take the hearing aids out for a short break every few hours during the first few days of acclimating to the new normal sound level.
• Exchange your hearing aids during the trial period for a model with:
o directional microphones
o upgraded noise reduction
o Volume adjustment, manual or by remote control
o Call my office to get recommendations
2 – “Tinny, or bad sound quality”
• The ability to hear high-frequencies is impaired by aging and loud noise. Restoring your ability to hear high frequencies adds clarity but takes some getting used to.
• Exchange your hearing aids during the trial period for a model that:
o Features a user adjustable tone control
o Can be programmed to your exact hearing loss
o Offers a premium sound quality
o Call my office to get recommendations
3 – “My ability to understand speech hasn’t improved”
• The brains of hearing impaired people shift unused cognitive resources away from the area of the brain that processes speech over time. Making formerly inaudible sounds loud enough to hear is only the first step in the helping the brain relearn to process the speech cues needed for discriminating speech. Expect it to take longer to get used to hearing aids the longer you put off treating your hearing loss.
• Exchange your hearing aids during the trial period for a model with:
o Premium sound quality
o Upgraded features such as frequency transfer
o Local service for face-to-face adjustments (by calling our support line 512-687-1117 and asking if we can help you refund your hearing aid order and refer you to the best products and prices
)
4 – “Uncomfortable Physical Fit”
• The two big variables in getting a hearing aid to comfortably fit on the ear are tube length and doom diameter.
o Tubes/ Receiver Length – Taller people usually need the longest length tubes, the medium length tubes fit the majority of adults, and the shortest length tubes are people with small ears.
o Domes – Domes used with hearing aids are soft and pliable but ear canals are super sensitive. Too big of a dome will eventually cause an earache and too small of a dome can move too much and cause noise. Fortunately, domes are easily user-changeable. Domes in a variety of diameters come with a new hearing aid purchase. .
The key to successfully addressing a specific hearing loss is choosing a hearing aid with the features designed to solve the specific problem or set of problems associated with each individual’s unique hearing loss and lifestyle.
Unfortunately, this task is complicated by advertising information can be confusing.
If your goal is to find the most affordable, but capable hearing aids, set up professionally with you in mind, all at affordable prices then call us and let’s get the Journey to Hearing restoration started. .