Getting the best start with your new hearing aids

When people make the decision to go ahead and begin wearing hearing aids, the majority feel that their quality of life greatly improves! It obviously becomes more enjoyable at social events, and your conversations with loved ones can become more meaningful. However, we have to stress that it does take time to get used to hearing aids so we want to make sure you get the best start to your new life using them. Some people report experiencing sensory overload as their brain gets used to all the new sounds it has to process. You will soon get used to this feeling, especially if you follow our guide below.

Wear your new aids consistently

Unless advised otherwise by your Audiologist, it is really important that you wear your hearing aids for the majority of the day. Hearing aids can feel uncomfortable at first. You will not truly experience their benefits unless you persevere and wear them frequently. As using hearing aids is a new thing altogether, you may forget at first to put them. It’s a good idea to set a reminder on your phone for the morning or leave a note on your bedside table so that you see it when you wake up. You may notice you begin to hear noises around your house that you’ve not heard for a while; running taps and creaky floorboards for example. This is totally normal and while it may surprise you at first, it will quickly become a natural part of your life again.

Enjoy conversation again!

When you have your new hearing aids, conversation will be much easier for you. Speech will now be clear and focused, meaning you can follow the conversation easily and participate as perhaps you couldn’t before. Some people with severe hearing loss avoid having conversations over the phone as this is much more tricky to follow due to not being able to read people’s gestures or lip read. With your hearing aids, phone conversations will become as easy as they always used to be. You can even connect your aids to your smartphone so that the call can be streamed straight into your ear.

Document your experience

We have discussed so any times how it takes a while to adjust to hearing aids so it is really important to note down anything that you experience that you feel should be shared with your Audiologist. It is easy to forget specific instances when you’re at your appointment, and it could be really useful for your Audiologist to know about. You can even note down the sounds that are new to you and what your reaction has been to them. Are there are unfamiliar sounds or sounds that are unpleasant to you?

You should definitely note down any time that your aids have felt uncomfortable and what you were doing at the time. If any adjustments are needed, your Audiologist will appreciate these notes. It can also be useful to take a loved one with you to any follow up appointments as they may have noticed things that you have not.  They will notice if you were uncomfortable or not hearing as they believe you should.

It’s fine to take a break

Although we have advised above that you should wear them as much as possible, it is fine to have a break if you are feeling overwhelmed. Once you brain is more used to the increased levels of sound, there will be less and less times when you feel like you need to take a break. In fact it will more than likely be the opposite and you will want them in more than ever!

We want everyone’s hearing aid journeys to be as seamless as possible and if you ever feel like you need some further advice, please do let us know.

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