Tanya is being fitted for a new set of hearing aids by her hearing specialist. And she’s experiencing a little anxiety. Her anxiety isn’t actually that bad. But she’s never used hearing aids before, and she’s somewhat concerned that she will be uncomfortable with a high tech gizmo inside of her ear canal, particularly since she’s never been a big fan of earbuds or earplugs.
These concerns are not unique to Tanya. Fit and overall comfort are concerns for many first time hearing aid users. Tanya has every intention of wearing her hearing aids. Now she won’t need to crank up the TV so loud that it bothers her family or even her neighbors. But will those hearing aids be fit her ears comfortably?
How to Adapt When You First Use Your Hearing Aids
So, are hearing aids uncomfortable? Simply put: some people find them to be a little bit uncomfortable at first. As with many things in life, there’s an adjustment period, meaning your early level of comfort will vary. But after a while, you’ll become accustomed to the feeling of your hearing aids and become more comfortable.
Often it’s just good to realize that these adjustments are will happen. Knowing what you should expect will help your adjustment period be easier.
There are two phases to your adjustment:
In order to improve your general comfort and speed up the adjustment period, contact your hearing specialist if you are having trouble with the physical positioning 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.
- Practice: Once you get your hearing aids, the world won’t sound quite the same. Adjusting to sound, especially speech, might take a while. In order to get the hang of it more quickly, there are lots of exercises you can do like watching a movie with caption or reading along with an audiobook.
- Get the right fit: Hearing aids are made to fit your ears comfortably. It may take a few consultations with your hearing specialist to get everything functioning and just the right fit. And for maximum comfort and effectiveness, you might want to think about a custom fit hearing aid.
- Start slow: You don’t need to wear your hearing aids every day from morning till night at first. You can gradually work your way up to it. From one to four hours per day is a great way to begin. Ultimately, you will be using 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. Before long you’re hearing aids will be a comfortable part of your everyday life and the sooner you make the adjustments, the sooner this will occur. In order to make that transition, it’s essential that you wear them on a daily basis.
Pretty soon, you’ll be thinking about is having good conversation with friends.
