Tanya is sitting with her hearing specialist, being measured for her very first pair of hearing aids. And it’s causing her some anxiety. Not, you know, a ton of anxiety. But hearing aids are new to her, and she’s somewhat stressed about how comfortable she’ll feel with a high tech gadget inside of her ears, particularly because she doesn’t really like earpods or earplugs.
Tanya’s doubts are not unique. Fit and overall comfort are doubts for many new hearing aid users. Tanya wants to use her hearing aid. She’s anticipating hearing her son’s jokes and listening to her television at a level That won’t cause problems with the neighbors. But will those hearing aids be fit her ears comfortably?
Adjusting to Hearing Aids For The First Time
So, are hearing aids uncomfortable? Simply put: some people experience them as a little uncomfortable when they first wear them. As with lots of things in life, there’s an adjustment period, meaning your early level of comfort will fluctuate. But you will become more comfortable after a while as you become used to your hearing aids.
Sometimes it’s just good to recognize that these adjustments are coming. Knowing what you should expect will help your adjustment period be smoother.
Adjusting to your hearing aid includes two parts:
In order to better your overall comfort and hasten the adjustment period, contact your hearing specialist if you’re experiencing trouble with the physical placement or sound quality of your hearing aids.
How Can I Improve The Comfort of My Hearing Aids?
Over the years, fortunately, there are a few techniques that have worked pretty well.
- Get the right fit: Hearing aids are made to fit your ears properly. It could take several visits with your hearing specialist to get everything working and fitting just right. You may also want to think about a custom fit hearing aid for optimal effectiveness and comfort.
- Practice: Once have your hearing aids, the world isn’t going to sound quite the same. And it may take a while for your ears to adjust, specifically when it comes to speech. In order to get the hang of it a little more quickly, there are a number of practices you can do including watching a movie with caption or reading along with an audiobook.
- Start slow: If you’re breaking in your first set of hearing aids, you shouldn’t feel as though you need to wear them all day, every day right away. You can gradually work your way up to it. Start by wearing your hearing aid for one to four hours a day. Inevitably, you will be wearing your hearing aids all day, when you become comfortable with them.
Making Your Hearing Aids More Comfortable
Your hearing aids might feel a little uncomfortable for the first few days or weeks. Pretty soon you’re hearing aids will be a comfortable part of your daily life and the sooner you make the adjustments, the sooner this will happen. 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.
