Tanya is being measured for a new pair of hearing aids by her hearing specialist. And she’s experiencing a little anxiety. Not, you know, a ton of anxiety. But hearing aids are new to her, and she’s a little worried that she will be uncomfortable with a high tech gadget inside of her ears, particularly because she’s not a big fan of earpods or earplugs.
Tanya’s concerns are not unusual. Fit and general comfort are concerns for many new hearing aid users. Tanya has every desire of wearing her hearing aids. She’s anticipating hearing her son’s music and listening to her television at a level That won’t cause trouble with the neighbors. But how comfortable are those hearing aids going to be?
Adjusting to Hearing Aids For The First Time
So, is wearing hearing aids uncomfortable? Simply put: some people find them to be a bit uncomfortable when they first wear them. As with lots of things in life, there’s an adjustment period, meaning your early level of comfort will fluctuate. But over time, you’ll get used to how your hearing aids feel and become more comfortable.
Sometimes it’s just nice to recognize that these adjustments are will happen. Knowing what to expect will help your adjustment period be easier.
Adapting to your hearing aid includes two parts:
If either the quality of sound or the physical placement of the hearing aids is disturbing you, it’s important to speak to your hearing specialist about adjustments to improve your overall comfort and advance the adjustment period.
Can I Make my Hearing Aids More Comfortable?
Fortunately, there are a few methods that have proven to be quite effective over the years.
- Start slow: You don’t have to use your hearing aids every day from morning till night at first. You can start gradually and build up from there. From one to four hours every day is a great way to start. With that being said, you’ll want to work up to using your hearing aids all day, but you don’t have to begin there.
- Get the right fit: Fitting your ears well is what hearing aids are designed to do. You’ll absolutely want to talk about fit with your hearing specialist right away but you’ll also want to consult your hearing specialist for follow-up fittings to make certain everything is working properly and the fit is excellent. You might also want to think about a custom fit hearing aid for maximum comfort and effectiveness.
- Practice: Once you get your hearing aids, the world isn’t going to sound quite the same. Adapting to sound, especially speech, might take a while. There are many practices (reading along with an audiobook or watching TV with the closed captions turned on) that can help you get the hang of this a little more quickly.
You’re Hearing Aids Can be More Comfortable
Your hearing aids may feel a little awkward for the first few days or weeks. But the more quickly you adjust to your new hearing aids, the faster they’ll become a comfortable part of your daily life. In order to really make that transition, it’s critical that you wear them every day.
Pretty soon, you’ll be focusing on is having good conversation with friends.