When first fitted with hearing aids, there is a period of adjustment that varies from Patient to Patient. During the initial period it will be very different to what you have been used to. During this period you should slowly build up your use of the aids from one or two hours a day to all day over a period of 14 days.
After having a untreated hearing loss, usually for up to ten years before you sought treatment, the most difficult part of adjusting to hearing aids is learning to listen. This may seem a stupid statement, we listen all the time? that may be true, but there is a real difference between listening and actively hearing.
While wearing the hearing aids you will hear sounds that you may not have heard for several years, and sounds that you have been aware of in a new completely different manner. It will take your brain sometime to become familiar with this sound information again. It usually takes from about six to eight weeks for the average brain to get used to this new method of hearing.
However this is the beginning, your appreciation of sounds which you hear will continue to increase incrementally over a six to twelve month period. However this varies from Patient to Patient, in certain circumstances, the initial adjustment period may take up to 6 months depending on the age of the patient and the condition of the brain.
It would be a good rule of thumb though to allow roughly six to eight weeks to become completely comfortable with any hearing aid. The biggest surprise to most new users is how they suddenly perceive their own voice. Those who suffer from extreme loss of hearing often to not understand that they are supposed to hear their own voice when they are talking.
It may seem strange to these individuals to actually hear their own voice while speaking and can actually be disturbing to the users on some occasions. For a first time user of hearing aids it can be either a moment of illumination or a confusing experience when they first hears their own voice clearly.
Most commonly, à new hearing aid wearer may think they’re shouting because their voice sounds louder than it normally has in the recent past. They may notice certain background and environmental noises that they were previously unaware of due to the level of their hearing loss. All of these new sounds may seem horrible to the person. The key is that a new user is counselled to understand that these sounds are the sound of life.
Further, these sounds will fade in importance to them as time progresses and the natural function of the brain begins to return. The brain has to now identify the sound, choose to ignore or listen to it and focus on picking out the speech from the background noise. Another adjustment that needs to be made is not with the new user but with their family and acquaintances. They will now have to remember that they no longer need to speak as loudly in the presence of the hearing aid wearer.
There are many different aspects of getting a new hearing aid – some of them positive, and some of them negative. Those who are around someone with a new hearing aid need to remember to employ patience as everyone becomes acclimatized to the situation. Most hearing-impaired people can benefit from hearing aids, although there are some who may not get on so well.
Many factors, including the severity of the hearing loss, the length of time without auditory stimulation, attitude and age of the patient, and the patient’s ability to interpret what they hear will have an impact on how well the patient adapts to the aid and ultimately how successful treatment with a hearing aid will be.
The most important point to remember is getting a hearing aid does not make everything perfect, nor will it solve all your problems in every situation, but it definitely will improve your ability to communicate with other people by being able to improving your ability to hear them
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