Tanya is sitting with her hearing specialist, being fitted for her very first set of hearing aids. And she’s feeling a little anxious. Her anxiety isn’t actually that bad. But hearing aids are new to her, and she’s somewhat worried about how comfortable she’ll feel with a high tech gizmo sitting in her ear canal, particularly because she doesn’t really like earpods or earplugs.
These worries are not only felt by Tanya. Fit and general comfort are concerns for many new hearing aid users. Tanya wants to use her hearing aid. She’s looking forward to hearing her son’s jokes and listening to her TV at a level That won’t cause issues with the neighbors. But will those hearing aids be fit her ears comfortably?
How to Adapt When You First Use Your Hearing Aids
So, is wearing hearing aids uncomfortable? Put simply: some individuals find them to be a little uncomfortable at first. Early levels of comfort will vary because, as with many things in life, there’s an adjustment period. But after a while, you’ll get used to the feeling of your hearing aids and become more comfortable.
Sometimes it’s just good to realize that these adjustments are coming. Knowing what you should expect will help you acclimate to your hearing aids in a healthy, sustainable, and comfortable way.
Adjusting to your hearing aid has two parts:
- Becoming accustomed to an improved quality of sound: In some cases, the improved sound quality takes a little adjusting to. For most people who have been coping with hearing loss for a long time, it will probably take a while to get used to hearing a full assortment of sound. It may sound a little loud at first or there may be frequencies of sound your not accustomed to hearing. Initially, this can be annoying. For example, one patient complained that he could hear his hair rubbing against his coat. This is normal. In a short period of time, your brain will make the required adjustments to sounds it doesn’t need to hear.
- Adjusting to the feeling of a hearing aid: Your hearing specialist might recommend that you begin gradually wearing your hearing aids so you can take some time to become accustomed to how the device feels in your ear. However, there should not be any pain involved. If you’re experiencing pain due to your hearing aid, you should certainly speak with your hearing specialist as soon as possible.
In order to improve your general comfort and quicken the adjustment period, get in touch with your hearing specialist if you are having trouble with the physical positioning or sound quality of your hearing aids.
Can I Make my Hearing Aids More Comfortable?
Over the years, fortunately, there are a few techniques that have worked pretty well.
- Get the right fit: Fitting your ears well is what hearing aids are made to do. You’ll obviously want to talk about fit with your hearing specialist right off the bat, but you’ll also want to see your hearing specialist for follow-up fittings to make sure everything is working properly and the fit is perfect. And for optimal comfort and effectiveness, you might want to consider a custom fit hearing aid.
- Practice: The world may sound quite a bit different once you get your hearing aids. Adjusting to sound, especially speech, may take some time. In order to get the hang of it more quickly, there are numerous 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 like you need to wear them all day, every day right off the bat. You can take your time and work your way up to it. From one to four hours every day is a great way to start. Ultimately, you will be wearing your hearing aids all day, when you get comfortable with them.
Making Your Hearing Aids More Comfortable
For the first few days or weeks, there might be a little discomfort with your hearing aids. 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 occur. In order to really make that transition, it’s crucial that you wear them on a daily basis.
Before you know it, you’ll be focusing on is having good conversation with friends.
