Tanya is being fitted for a new pair of hearing aids by her hearing specialist. And it’s the reason for some level anxiety. Her anxiety isn’t really that bad. But she’s never had to use hearing aids before, and she’s a little stressed that she will feel uncomfortable with a high tech gadget inside of her ears, especially since she’s never been a huge fan of earbuds or earplugs.
These worries are not only felt by Tanya. Fit and overall comfort are concerns for many new hearing aid users. Tanya has every intention of wearing her hearing aids. Now she won’t need to turn up the television so loud that it irritates her family or even the neighbors. But will those hearing aids be comfortable?
How to Adapt When You First Wear Your Hearing Aids
So, is wearing hearing aids uncomfortable? The short response is: some individuals experience them as a little uncomfortable at first. As with lots of things in life, there’s an adjustment time, meaning your initial level of comfort will fluctuate. But in time, you’ll get used to how your hearing aids feel and become more comfortable.
Sometimes it’s just nice to know that these adjustments are coming. Knowing what you should expect will help you acclimate to your hearing aids in a sustainable, healthy, and comfortable way.
Adapting to your hearing aid has two phases:
- Adjusting to the enhanced sound quality: In some cases, the improvement in sound quality takes a little adjusting to. If you’re like the majority of people, you waited to get hearing aids, and you’re not used to hearing a complete array of sounds anymore. When you begin wearing your hearing aids, it may sound a little bit loud, or you might hear sounds that you aren’t used to hearing. Initially, this can be annoying. For instance, one patient complained that he could hear his hair rubbing against his coat. This isn’t uncommon. After a few weeks, your brain will filter out the noises you don’t want to tune in to.
If either the quality of sound or the physical positioning of the hearing aids is bothering you, it’s critical to talk to your hearing specialist about adjustments to help improve your all-around comfort and progress the adjustment period.
How Can I Improve The Comfort of My Hearing Aids?
Over the years, fortunately, there are a few strategies that have worked fairly well.
- Start slow: If you’re breaking in your first pair of hearing aids, you shouldn’t feel as if you have to wear them all day, every day right off the bat. You can gradually work your way up to it. Begin by wearing your hearing aid for a couple to a few hours a day. Inevitably, you will be wearing your hearing aids all day, when you become comfortable with them.
- Get the right fit: Fitting your ears well is what hearing aids are designed to do. It could take several visits with your hearing specialist to get everything working and fitting just right. You may also want to think about a custom fit hearing aid for optimal comfort and effectiveness.
- Practice: Once you get your hearing aids, the world isn’t going to sound quite the same. And it may take a while for your ears to adapt, particularly when it comes to the spoken word. In order to get the hang of it more quickly, there are numerous practices you can do including watching a movie with caption or reading along with an audiobook.
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 faster you adjust to your new hearing aids, the faster they’ll become a comfortable part of your day to day life. In order to make that transition, it’s critical that you wear them every day.
Soon all you will have to think about is what you hear, not how you hear it.