5 Steps to Success with Hearing Aids

A year long study was conducted to answer why some people succeed with their hearing aids and others do not. Some of our patients are able to wear their aids all day, while others struggle to wear them for an hour. From this study, five principles were pinned as significant indicators for success. The following summarizes their findings published in the acclaimed Five Steps to Better Hearing.

Step One: Admit I Have A Permanent Hearing Loss

By now you have had your hearing tested and the results explained. Now comes the decision to accept your loss or deny it. Often I hear patients struggling, yet when asked they claim to be fine. These are the same people who claim everyone around them is mumbling. Trying to hide or compensate can be more obvious than any pair of hearing aids. You can try to conceal your problem, but the symptoms (what?!) have already given your secret away. The aim here is to accept that with a little work and patience, hearing aids will help enhance your quality of life.

Step Two: A Good Attitude

Hearing aid studies have shown that people who have a positive outlook on life do better with hearing aids. They believe they are in control of their life. My recommendation is to be willing to try hearing aids, adapt to new solutions, and keep frustration at a minimum when obstacles arise. I will be the first to tell you, hearing aids will not bring you instant gratification. To achieve better hearing, you must work daily. The ability to hear again has to be relearned-not just purchased.

Step Three: Personal Education

Commit to learning all you can about your hearing loss. Ask your hearing healthcare professional the following:

What is the type of hearing loss I have?
What is the degree of loss in ears?
How has my brain been affected?
What can I do to improve my hearing?

The more you know about your particular loss, the better you will be able to participate in the adjustment to hearing aid use in various listening environments. Ask questions. Remember, your provider is your advocate! For further educational information on hearing loss, visit www.audiology.com

Step Four: Set Realistic Expectations 

Be realistic. Do not expect someone else's hearing aids to work for you. Would you wear their eyeglasses and decide whether you can be helped by glasses based on this experience? Be realistic. Remember that it takes time to get used to hearing aids, especially if you're a new wearer. Keep in mind that background noise is almost always part of your environment, and adjustment to it is required. In time, you will tune out many of these everyday sounds. It's important not to become disappointed or frustrated while your brain begins to adjust to a whole new world of sound. If you are an experienced wearer trying new hearing aids, understand that they might not sound like your old ones. Before you reject them, allow neural hook-ups in the auditory system to adapt to these new sounds. You just might find that you like this new sound better than the old one.

Step 5: Patience, Time, and Patience

Realize it is not likely you will walk out of your first fit appointment hearing perfectly. Hearing aids are not a simple cure all, but will need to be serviced and adjusted to you. Do not worry if it takes a few visits to get everything sorted out. With some tweaking and patience, most of these problems should be solved.

I suggest you write the issues down to share at your appointments. Identification of situations that cause you the most difficulty is a critical step. If you can describe difficult listening conditions, your provider can address the problems and develop strategies to help you manage them. If you need more information or clarification, ask for it. Most providers will be happy you asked. By all means talk to your hearing healthcare professional about these issues. The most important thing to us is that you are comfortable. That means comfortable with the price, product, and interactions at our office.

Shopping Around For Hearing Aids

It is wise before purchasing anything to shop around for the best option. Hearing aids are no different! The following are some tips on shopping around for hearing aids.

Programmable Technology

Do you want hearing aids customized for you? There is no doubt that customers are more satisfied with programmable technology, but some find it to be outside of their price range. Advanced programmable technology allows the dispenser to adjust the hearing aid to your specific hearing loss characteristics with more precision. If the product does not meet your needs, let us know! We can adjust the hearing aid at our office versus sending it back to the manufacturer. Additionally, programmable technology allows us to adjust the hearing aids based on your personal reaction to sounds. Depending on your lose, you may be sensitive to specific sounds and struggle in noisy situations. With programmable hearing aids, we can take all of that into consideration and customize your aids for you.

A second advanced feature to consider is directional hearing aids. They have either two or three microphones in them. Because of their design they are able to reduce annoying background noise and improve your ability to understand speech in more difficult listening situations. If you are an active person, directional hearing aids will result in enhanced speech intelligibility in more listening situations. A study conducted by the Better Hearing Institute found significant improvements in customer satisfaction when patients were wearing directional aids. More studies are currently underway, but we believe programmable directional hearing aids should be the technology of choice where applicable.

Controls

Decide if you want a set of hearing aids with automatic or adjustable settings. Some people like to personally control their hearing aids while others feel prefer less hassle. From my experience, there are a few reasons why patients would want to have control over the setting of their aids. For some, the automatic settings are not satisfactory for every type of environment they plan to be in. Others are long time wearers of hearing aids with controls and prefer to stick to their old habits. It is merely a personal preference. If you want to be able to adjust your aids yourself, usually we set up a volume control and multiple memory switch (for different environments) at your first fit appointment.

Do Not Purchase Based Only on Cosmetics

Because of hearing loss stigma or embarrassment, many consumers come into our office and begin, "I would like one of those invisible hearing aids that I saw on TV." It is true that the hearing aid industry has reduced the size of hearing aids to near invisibility. It is understandable some will gravitate towards the least noticeable option. The same person may opt for contacts rather than glasses. The problem is that the smallest hearing aid may not be the most suitable hearing solution for you. At our office, we will only sell invisible options to those who are good candidates. The process is simple, yet thorough. First we examine your ears. In this, we are accessing the size, shape, and health of your ear canal. Any extreme bends would make a tiny hearing aid difficult to stay in the canal. Next we measure your hearing loss. If your type of hearing loss requires more power, you may not be a good candidate for invisible solutions. Finally, we assess your lifestyle. Because they are so small, good manual dexterity is a must. If you cannot comfortably handle your hearing aids, you will be constantly frustrated. If it is determined that you are not a good candidate, there are an array of other products we can suggest for you. It is most important to us you get the best prescription for your loss.