1. Wear them!
It may sound obvious, but you must wear your hearing aids frequently to receive the full benefits they offer. This can sometimes feel like a challenge if your hearing aids don’t feel comfortable to wear right away. At the start, you might be constantly aware that they are in your ears, but that feeling will go away in a few days.
Like with all new things, it takes time to adjust and add to your existing daily routine. For instance, it is common for some people to forget to put in their devices at the beginning. Some of our patients initially found it beneficial to set an alarm in the morning and at night to remind them to put in and take out their hearing aids.
Soon you’ll develop your new natural soundscape and start to recognise and appreciate the simple things in your everyday life that you might have missed or not heard in a while – like running taps and those annoying creaky stairs! Birds singing, the click of your kettle switching off, rain on windows – these “rediscovered” sounds often bring genuine joy.
The sounds you hear might be unnaturally loud at the beginning, and this is simply due to the brain not being used to them. This won’t last for long, as your brain adjusts to the more focused and clear sounds you are now experiencing.
- When you get used to wearing your hearing aids, you should wear them all the time – apart from when you’re showering, swimming, etc. If you don’t wear them consistently, you can prolong the adjustment period and are at risk of not getting used to them at all.
- Your brain also craves the stimulation of your new soundscape. While research is continuing, it does tell us that wearing hearing aids can reduce the risk of cognitive decline, loneliness, depression, and anxiety.
2. Keep talking
Speaking to people either on the phone or face-to-face will be extremely rewarding when you wear your hearing aids. Speech and sound are clear, focused, and easier to follow – something that you may not have experienced before or not at the level you have been used to in the past.
Get into the habit of starting conversations that you might have avoided before with your hearing loss and see how your confidence improves as you build stronger social connections with family and friends. Having regular conversations with your family or friends is of great benefit, as they are the easiest to identify, and you can acknowledge and get used to the higher level of focused hearing you now get with your devices.
Please remember that when you are in loud or more challenging environments, don’t be tempted to adjust the volume as your hearing aids should adjust automatically – there is no need for manual manipulation. You can also damage your ears by doing this if the volume is manually turned up too loud.
Taking note of your new hearing experiences whilst wearing your hearing aids can be a great tool to track your challenges, new impressions and also to see how far you’ve come. More importantly, it is a physical report that will help guide your audiologist to make any adjustments needed.
These could be new sounds you’ve not experienced before, unpleasant hearing situations in various environments, and maybe how comfortable your hearing aids are and so on. The more sounds you can recognise and filter out, and the more sounds you identify as bothersome, can ultimately help your audiologist make the right tweaks that will give you a more personalised sound. Even simple notes like “fridge humming too loud” or “struggled in café yesterday” help us fine-tune your aids perfectly for your life.
