• Wear your hearing aids every day for 30 days. You should be using them for at least 50% of your waking hours.
• Keep track of your experiences. Fill out the daily homework form I gave you.

HOW THEY SOUND 

 Your hearing aids are set to the initial fit. These are the settings that, according to the manufacturer’s programming software, are the best for optimal performance. Sometimes, however, they need some fine-tuning adjustments. I rely on you to tell me what you are experiencing with your hearing aids. That way I know what to do for you. So, do your homework.

It is my goal that your new hearing aids give you hearing that is as close as possible to good normal hearing. You have adapted to a world that is relatively quiet. Get ready for your car or truck to be noisier than it was!

You may wonder if they will make you hear as well as your original normal hearing. Probably not. Consider dentures. Are they as good as natural teeth? Of course not. But they sure help us chew food. It’s the same with hearing aids. They help us to hear better. You may notice that normal hearing folks can pick out and identify sounds better than you can even with hearing aids.

Usually, audiology measures the performance of hearing aids on how clearly they amplify speech. We also want hearing aids to amplify speech clearly amidst background noise and reverberant noise conditions. But, no hearing aid will amplify speech and only speech without any background noise. If programmed properly, digital hearing aids will reduce unwanted background noise. But don’t expect them to eliminate it altogether.

Your brain’s hearing center interprets the sounds your hearing aids give you. If you are over 60 or 70 years old, your “hearing center” is not as agile as it once was. That is why I tested you for word recognition.  Your understanding of speech is dependent on how well your hearing center is working. If you are accustomed to lip reading to compensate for hearing loss, you may still want to see the speaker’s face to get the best word understanding.

Your new hearing aids may sound to you a bit artificial at first. That will pass as you wear them. One of my clients reported that his refrigerator sounded really loud at first. After a few weeks that same refrigerator noise was no longer noticeable to him.

But, there may be sounds that you don’t get used to. Some users find some sounds to be annoying or even irritating. Sounds like:

• Exhaust fans
• Running water
• Crackling packaging material

Or perhaps they amplify soft sounds too much, like shuffling feet on the floor. Problems like these can be solved by re-programming your hearing aids.

How They Feel.

Your hearing aids should be so comfortable that you can wear them all day. New hearing aids can be comfortable at first but may cause some irritation or soreness after being worn a few days. If they are custom molded to your ears, any imperfections in shape may cause a sore spot. If your ear gets sore, I will re-shape the aid for you. But, I must see the sore spot to do this. The sore spot shows me where the earmold needs re-shaping.

Maintenance

Please remember that your hearing aids require frequent service to work reliably day after day. Consider taking advantage of my Hearing Care Plan where help is just a phone call away. This plan covers any service needs that may come up. Ask for a brochure.

Contact  Me:

(208)946-7827

dana@mobilehearingcare.com