Adjusting To Hearing Aids

Just like you need to keep your muscles active by moving them, it is important to keep your hearing pathways active by wearing your hearing aids. That is why it is important to persist with wearing the aids.

Accept The Limitations

Hearing aids are not a cure, they are only an aid. It is important to remember that hearing aids unfortunately can’t restore your hearing back to normal. A hearing aid can’t replicate the intricate way the brain processes sound which is especially noticeable when trying to listen to conversation in a noisy environment. The hearing aids do their best to pick out the speech from noise but have their limitations, even the latest and most advanced technology. That is why it’s important to have realistic expectations and to learn how to use communication strategies.

If you are finding the aids overwhelming, try wearing them in quiet environments first to ‘practice’ and then your brain will adjust to the amplification and you will cope far better when wearing them in a noisy environment.

As your hearing has deteriorated gradually over time, you have most likely forgotten about the everyday normal sounds that you are now hearing with hearing aids. Sometimes these can be overwhelming, but with time your brain will adjust to hearing those sounds again. Your brain will learn that these sounds are not important and will tune them out. It is important to wear the aids as much as possible to allow this process to occur. The more you wear the hearing aids, the quicker you will adjust.

Where possible, reduce or turn off unnecessary noise such as music and the TV on in the background. If the noise cannot be eliminated, move further away from the source of the noise.

Where possible, such as church, theatres and lectures, sit as close to the person you want to hear as possible.

Admit to people that you have difficulty. By letting people know you are having difficulty hearing them they can make adjustments.

The combination of visual and auditory cues can help significantly. It’s important you can see the talkers face to be able to read their lips, watch their facial expressions and body gestures which all help to convey information, fill in the gaps and understand speech better.

Telling the person you are speaking to how they can help you is often more useful than saying “what?” Try asking them to: • Speak slower • Talk slightly louder • Take some pauses • Emphasise key words

Giving constant feedback in the way of nods, smiles, and puzzled looks gives the person talking an idea on how well they are being understood. If you are unsure of what was said, try: • Clarifying what you thought was said • Asking the speaker to rephrase what was said • Using a gesture • Using a key word • Asking them to spell out the word or have it written down.