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Knowing what to expect and having realistic expectations from hearing aids can ensure your maximum satisfaction with them.
When you first get hearing aids, your brain will take a while to get used to hearing sounds again at the pitches where you have hearing loss. Your brain will also need some time to adjust to the sound quality of your hearing aids. We call this adaptation. Thankfully the ‘if you don’t use it you lose it’ adage doesn’t apply to ears. We’re just lucky that our brains can adapt, although it can take a few months.
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We want your hearing experience to be positive and happy, and we’ll work with you during the early days to make your adaptation to wearing hearing aids as easy as possible.
Over time your perception of sound will change, so during the trial period we often need to make tuning adjustments to the hearing aids to account for your brain adapting. This is very normal. By working closely with you we can be sure your hearing aids are adjusted optimally for your individual needs.
Here are some of the things we’ll ask you to keep in mind when the hearing aids are new:
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Things will sound different at first and you need to just give your brain time to adjust to listening to the new sounds your hearing aids pick up. The adaptation period can take anywhere from a few weeks to months.
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At first you might think that the sound from your hearing aids is unnatural. Give it time, be patient and persevere. Gradually your hearing nerves and brain will adjust to hearing sound again and over time, your hearing aids will sound more natural.
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With hearing aids you should be able to hear many sounds you can’t hear without them, and some of these might take you by surprise. You should notice improved hearing in many listening situations that are important to you.
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Hearing aids will help you hear better but they do not restore normal hearing. This is because they are hearing aids not ear replacements.
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Wearing hearing aids doesn’t mean you’ll be able to hear every sound in every situation. Remember, even people with normal hearing miss sounds from time to time.
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Part of the hearing aid fitting process is tuning your hearing aids to your particular hearing needs. We do this over several appointments with time between each appointment so you can try your aids out in a variety of listening situations.
Testimonial from Ian Burgess
Noises! Sounds! Telephone! – When you can’t hear them it can be very stressful and frustrating. Having to continually ask people to repeat themselves or to have people look at you strangely because you’ve answered them with something irrelevant to the conversation can be embarrassing. All that is now in the past thanks to my Widex hearing aids and the staff at Clarity Hearing Solutions. I am now enjoying sounds I had forgotten existed.
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