How to Adjust your Hearing Aid
Hearing aids can be a relief for anyone who has suffered from hearing loss. It will take a while to get used to your hearing aid because you will need to make adjustments to your life and inform friends, family and colleagues about the change.
Adjusting to a new hearing aid can be frustrating because nothing compares to natural hearing and you will feel strange wearing as foreign object in your ear.
With perseverance, you can enjoy your hearing aid by following a few steps:
1. Choose the right hearing aid
There are various types of hearing aids to suit people’s needs, so it’s important to choose one that suits your needs.
2. Adjust volume
Make sure your audiologist programs your aid to suit your lifestyle.
If you work in a noisy environment, you might struggle to hear someone close by, speaking to you. So the background noise would have to be blocked out.
This function might only work for advance digital hearing aid, because the controls can only be adjusted from a computer by a specialist. They will adjust the aid to work in a crowded room and make the aid adjust to a quiet room.
If the adjustments don’t work, then book an appointment with the audiologist to readjust the setting. Bear in mind that you might need different volume settings if you wear an aid in both ears.
3. Test it
Before wearing your hearing aid, test it out using your mobile phone and test how it works outdoors. You will notice sound of your voice changes with a hearing aid.
4. Whistling
Whistling can be annoying and embarrassing. To avoid whistling, make sure you haven’t got a build up of wax in your ear by visiting your GP. When wax builds up in the nozzle, your will whistle.
If your aid isn’t fitted properly, it will whistle.
5. Instructions
Take note of instructions given by the audiologist and read the user guide provided. With practice you will be able to make adjustments.
6. Maintenance
If your hearing isn’t kept in good condition, it might not be possible to adjust to the functions. Keep your aid if you need to, by rinsing the nozzle in warm water.
7. Take your time
Don’t rush or feel disappointed if you haven’t adjusted after a few days, because adjusting to wearing a hearing aid, takes time. You might decide to go to a busy area; the sound will be different to the sound you are used to, at home.
8. Take it off
If you are still having difficulty with background noise, take your hearing aid off. You might hear you surroundings better without wearing your hearing aid.
Batteries run low after about 12 days, but you can learn how to replace them by referring back to your manual. Keep the old batteries and return them to the audiologist for recycling.
Life can be much better with this device.
