Tanya is being measured for a new pair of hearing aids by her hearing specialist. And she’s experiencing a little anxiety. Her anxiety isn’t really that bad. But she’s never used hearing aids before, and she’s a little concerned about how comfortable she’ll feel with a high tech gizmo inside of her ears, particularly since she’s never been a big fan of earbuds or earplugs.
These worries are not unique to Tanya. Lots of first-time hearing aid users have worries about the comfort and overall fit of their hearing aids. Tanya wants to use her hearing aid. She’s looking forward to hearing her son’s jokes and listening to her TV at a volume That won’t cause issues with the neighbors. But how comfortable are those hearing aids going to be?
Adjusting to Hearing Aids For The First Time
So, are hearing aids uncomfortable? The short response is: some people find them to be a little bit uncomfortable when they first wear them. Initial levels of comfort will vary because, like many things in life, there’s a period of adjustment. But after a while, you’ll become accustomed to how your hearing aids feel and become more comfortable.
Often it’s just good to recognize that these adjustments are coming. Knowing what to expect will help your adjustment period be smoother.
Adjusting to your hearing aid has two parts:
In order to improve your overall comfort and quicken the adjustment period, consult your hearing specialist if you’re having trouble with the physical placement or sound quality of your hearing aids.
How Can I Enhance The Comfort of My Hearing Aids?
Fortunately, there are a few strategies that have proven to be rather effective over the years.
- Practice: Once have your hearing aids, the world won’t sound quite the same. Adapting to sound, particularly speech, could take a while. There are many exercises (reading along with an audiobook or watching TV with the closed captions turned on) that can help you get the hang of this a little faster.
- Start slow: You don’t have to use your hearing aids every day from morning till night right away. You can start gradually and build up from there. Start by wearing your hearing aid for one to four hours a day. Ultimately, you will be using your hearing aids all day, when you become comfortable with them.
- Get the right fit: Fitting your ears well is what hearing aids are made to do. It might take a number of visits with your hearing specialist to get everything functioning and fitting just right. And for maximum effectiveness and comfort, you may want to consider a custom fit hearing aid.
You’re Hearing Aids Can be More Comfortable
Your hearing aids might feel a little awkward for the first few days or weeks. But the faster you adjust to your new hearing aids, the faster they’ll become a comfortable part of your everyday life. In order to really make that transition, it’s essential that you wear them on a daily basis.
Pretty soon, you’ll be focusing on is having good conversation with friends.
