If you are one of the millions of people who suffer from hearing loss in the world today, then the chances are that you own, or are considering purchasing a hearing aid. That being the case, you should understand that you should not expect to be able to walk into a store, buy a hearing aid, and then drive home. There is a complex programming method that needs to take place in order to make sure that every hearing aid is helping the specific individual for who it is ordered. An audiologist typically performs this hearing aid programming, a process which we will look at through this article.
What Factors Can Be Adjusted?
For most people, they are concerned about four or five aspects of their hearing aids. After all, who knows more about what you need in order to hear well than you? Some of the best things that your audiologist can change in your device are the volume, compression ratios, frequency, noise reduction, and the amount of sound that is filtered out from the environment. These customizations allow the user to get the clearest version of sound allowed into the device, giving the user better hearing than ever before.
Processing Time
For people that suffer from hearing loss, you will need to have a hearing aid that meets all of your needs if you are to have optimized hearing abilities. If you had an older model of hearing aid, then there were limits as to what you could do with the device. Now, you have an incredible opportunity to program significant amounts of unique information into your hearing aid. In order to get this process started, you have to visit a hearing specialist to have them run numerous tests on your ears and hearing faculties. Once the first round of information is plugged into your hearing aid, you may have to go back for some smaller adjustments for any changes that can occur in your hearing as a result of your brain acclimating to the new sounds. At the end of the procedure, you will be deeply satisfied with your abilities to combat hearing loss through technology.
Programming Hearing Aids
Generally speaking, anyone with the right equipment is able to program a digital hearing aid. Unfortunately, those people who choose to do so are missing out on all of the beneficial knowledge and tests that can only be provided by someone like an audiologist. These individuals have the ability to use real-ear mapping to discover which sounds are making it through to your eardrum. Combined with the new technology of visual speech mapping, they can see how certain sounds affect different areas of the brain. The result is a form of understanding hearing that makes it much easier to program the hearing aid device to meet the specific hearing requirements of a patient. They will also test you in simulated sound environments to see how you can benefit from adjustments to your hearing aid in a variety of places. Overall, there are incredible benefits to having your hearing aid programmed by an audiologist.
