Tanya is being measured for a new pair of hearing aids by her hearing specialist. And it’s the reason for some level anxiety. Her anxiety isn’t actually that bad. But hearing aids are new to her, and she’s a little concerned that she will feel uncomfortable with a high tech gadget sitting in her ear canal, especially because she doesn’t really like earpods or earplugs.
These concerns are not unique to Tanya. Fit and general comfort are doubts for many first time hearing aid users. Tanya wants to wear her hearing aid. She’s looking forward to hearing her son’s jokes and listening to her television at a volume That won’t cause trouble with the neighbors. But will those hearing aids be comfortable?
How to Adjust When You First Use Your Hearing Aids
So, are hearing aids uncomfortable? The short answer is: some people find them to be a little bit uncomfortable when they first use them. As with lots of things in life, there’s an adjustment period, which means your early level of comfort will fluctuate. But you will get more comfortable in time as you get used to your hearing aids.
Recognizing that these adjustments will happen can help alleviate some of the anxiety. Knowing what you should expect will help you get accustomed to your hearing aids in a sustainable, healthy, and comfortable way.
Adjusting to your hearing aid has two parts:
- Adjusting to the improved sound quality: In some cases, it might be the sound quality that you need to adapt to. For most people who have been dealing with hearing loss for some time, it will most likely take some time to get used to hearing a full range of sound. When you first start wearing your hearing aids, it may sound a little loud, or you might hear noises that you aren’t used to hearing. At first, this can be rather distracting. One of our readers complained, for example, that he could hear his hair scraping against his coat every time he moved his head. This is normal. In a short period of time, your brain will make the appropriate adjustments to sounds it doesn’t need to hear.
In order to enhance your overall comfort and hasten the adjustment period, speak with your hearing specialist if you’re having trouble with the physical positioning or sound quality of your hearing aids.
How Can I Enhance The Comfort of My Hearing Aids?
Thankfully, there are a few methods that have proven to be fairly effective over the years.
- 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. Start by wearing your hearing aid for a couple to a few hours a day. Ultimately, you will be using your hearing aids all day, when you become comfortable with them.
- Get the right fit: Fitting your ears properly is what hearing aids are made to do. You’ll obviously want to discuss your fit with your hearing specialist right away but you’ll also want to see your hearing specialist for follow-up fittings to be sure everything is working properly and the fit is just right. And for optimal effectiveness and comfort, you might want to consider a custom fit hearing aid.
- Practice: The world might sound quite a bit different once you get your hearing aids. And it might take a while for your ears to adapt, especially when it comes to speech. In order to get the hang of it more quickly, there are numerous exercises you can do including watching a movie with caption or reading along with an audiobook.
Making Your Hearing Aids More Comfortable
For the first few days or weeks, there may be a little discomfort with your hearing aids. Pretty soon you’re hearing aids will be a comfortable part of your day to day life and the sooner you make the adjustments, the sooner this will occur. In order to make that transition, it’s crucial that you wear them every day.
Pretty soon, you’ll be thinking about is having good conversation with friends.