When you get fitted for your first pair of hearing aids, there is a lot of adjusting that has to be done. Of course, your hearing aids will help you to hear sounds you may have forgotten about, improve your communication and comprehension, and more, but it can also be frustrating if you don’t know what to anticipate. Our audiologists, who are also experts in hearing aids Omaha, go over some of the things you can expect to make the process easier: 

You’ll need follow-up appointments

More than likely, you will need to make a follow-up appointment with a hearing aids Omaha specialist to fine-turn your hearing aids’ programming. This is because while the hearing aids might have sounded fine sitting in your audiologist’s quiet office, wearing them out in real life is different. You can talk with your audiologist about what sounded off and what changes need to be made during these follow-up appointments until your programming is perfect. 

There will be an adjustment period

Even when you have your programming figured out, there is still an adjustment period where your hearing aids may feel unnatural. Wearing hearing aids means that your brain is processing sounds and information that it hasn’t had to in a very long time, and getting back to normal won’t happen overnight. In fact, it can take up to four months before your brain is ready to hear at your prescriptive targets.  This means patience and communication with your hearing aids Omaha specialist is key to your success.   

You may not recognize voices

Other people will sound louder, more crisp, and maybe a little different than they used to. The person you will notice this the most with however is yourself. Many new hearing aid users experience the occlusion effect, which can make their own voice sound hollow, or alternatively, booming. This effect occurs because all hearing aids will block off at least a portion of the ear canal, making your voice resonate inside your head more than it would if the ear canal was unblocked.  

Sounds can seem too loud

Sounds that you haven’t been able to hear for a long time will begin to pop back up in your life again – and while most of them are welcome, some of them might be annoying. The sounds of traffic can be overwhelming, birds chirping in the morning can be annoying, and you might now notice that your coworker likes to chew with their mouth open. These brand new sounds can seem really loud, almost like an intrusion, but like with the other things on this list, it just takes time to adjust as your brain relearns that it’s ok to not pay so much attention to these environmental sounds.

They might be uncomfortable

Besides adjusting to new sounds, you also have to adjust to having a new device in your ear constantly. Any hearing aids Omaha specialist will tell you it takes time to get used to all that is new with your new aids.  While it’s important to get your brain used to hearing again, it’s ok to take short breaks or turn the aids down using the volume control so you can feel comfortable wearing them for longer periods.  Properly fit hearing aids are programmed using real ear measurements testing to ensure that the hearing aids are set to amplify appropriately for both your hearing loss and the size and shape of your individual ear canals but it can still take time for the aids to feel natural.

Visit us!

If you are struggling with hearing loss and need to be fitted for new hearing aids, contact us! We are here to help you Hear Now, Stay Active, and Live Better!