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“Should I wear my aids full time?”
You don’t have to, particularly if you have a very mild hearing impairment. But if you want to get the most benefit from the aids you will wear them as much as you can within the limits of comfort and convenience.
Also, keep in mind that safety may depend upon your ability to hear twenty-four hours a day. However, there is no logical reason to wear your hearing aids in those situations where they do not improve your ability to hear. Full-time hearing aid use should not be considered a bad sign. If hearing aids help, use them as much as you see fit.
“Will wearing hearing aids make my hearing worse?”
On the contrary, evidence exists which shows hearing comprehension deterioration in persons who had hearing losses and did NOT wear hearing aids. The “use it or lose it” principle seems to apply when it comes to stimulating the hearing mechanism. The longer a person with a hearing loss goes without hearing help, the poorer the listening habits, and hence, understanding become. Relearning to use hearing then takes much more time and is more difficult.
“How can I overcome my self-consciousness or embarrassment when I wear my aids?”
After a while you will probably regard your aids as one of your most valued possessions, as essential as eyeglasses to those who have problems with vision. Once you discover the advantages of your aids, you’ll forget they are there- except when you stop to appreciate the listening benefits they provide. The embarrassment is experienced only before you have worn them, because in a few days the benefits evidence themselves and you realize you are embarrassed much more by not wearing your hearing aids.
“I don’t want my friends to know that I have a loss of hearing.”
Sorry, but anyone who know you well already knows that you have a hearing loss. It is said that the hearing loss is much more difficult to hide than are hearing aids.
“Do I need one or two hearing aids?”
Listening with both ears is as normal and necessary as seeing with both eyes. Two hearing aids should be used if the hearing-impaired must listen critically in the home, work, or social environment and under adverse background or distant noise conditions.
Binaural provides:
Two hearing aids are better than one.
“How long will my hearing aid last?”
Many factors determine the life expectancy of hearing aids. This includes the care taken by you, periodic cleaning by your dispenser, your work environment, your body chemistry (salts and acids in your perspiration), and the part of the country you live in (not as long in high humidity areas.)
Mechanically, a good hearing aid can last, with proper care, for many years. However, changing hearing needs on your part and continued improvements in electronics typically shorten the period to about 3-5 years. Even when they last longer, and many do, improvements in the performance of hearing aids and your desire to have something better, may be the deciding factor.
When hearing aids begin to be costly in the way of repairs, this provides a good indication that new ones may be needed.
“Because hearing aids make sounds louder, what happens when a really loud sound occurs and I’m wearing my hearing aids?”
Many unanticipated loud sounds occur in our environment, and you will not always have a chance to remove the hearing aids or turn the volume controls down. Do not be unduly alarmed about this happening because all hearing aids have an output level beyond which sounds cannot be made louder. However, this may have to be adjusted by the hearing aid dispenser.
"People I know say that hearing aids won’t help me.”
You may have come across people who have hearing aids and are not happy with them. They are often quite vocal concerning their dissatisfaction and, as a result, the idea of using hearing aids may not appeal to you. But deciding not to try hearing aids because of the experience of other people is much like deciding not to wear glasses because your neighbor doesn’t like them: It’s a mistake!
“When I’m outdoors, or when driving my car with the windows open, wind noise bothers me.”
You will gradually learn to protect the microphone from the direct blast of the wind, and for some hearing aids, it will always be troublesome. A wind screen may help. Ask your dispenser if he has one for your particular type of aid.
“Do batteries cost a lot?”
Battery costs depend in part on the type of aid and in part on the way the aid is used. The cost of a single hearing aid battery is not large; but if you use your aid constantly during waking hours- and you probably should- the cost of replacement batteries can become a substantial item in the course of a year. Ask your dispenser to give you an estimate of battery cost and expected battery life, under normal use, for your hearing aids.
“Can I use the telephone while I’m wearing hearing aids?”
Use of the telephone can present a problem. Fortunately, many hearing aid users can use the telephone well without the hearing aid. Others may have had their telephones fitted with a built-in telephone amplifier requested from the telephone company. Another type of portable telephone amplifier attachment can be carried by the user and used with whatever telephone is being used at the time.
For some people, none of the above systems work well.
For this reason, some hearing aids are equipped with a telephone switch.
“What do I do if the ear piece hurts my ear?”
A properly-fitted ear piece (earmold or actual hearing aid) is a very important part of the hearing aid system. If it hurts, you may not be inserting it properly, or it may need to be refitted. Discuss the problem with the dispenser who fitted the hearing aids. Do not accept an ear piece that hurts.
“My hearing aids pick up noise more than they speech.”
Hearing aids amplify every sound within range of their microphones, including background noise. Such “background” noises pose what is probably the most common complaint encountered in hearing aid use. If your hearing loss occurred gradually, over time, you came to accept the void of certain background sounds. Replacing these background sounds suddenly, as with hearing aids, may be oddly disturbing. Actually, you have merely forgotten what background noises sounded like- and how you learned to ignore some of them. You may be able to train your mind to block out some of the noise and concentrate on speech and the meaningful sounds you want to hear.
You might try to turn the hearing aid volume down. This may be of help by cutting down on some of the background noise levels. Fortunately, people usually speak louder in noise to compensate for the volume loss.
You must relearn how to listen and to sort out sounds that are important. This can be a difficult and trying process, and practice is the key to achieving success. Remember, even those who have normal hearing cannot stop background noise. However, the ability to concentrate on sounds that are important can be relearned with practice.
If noise continues to bother you, discuss the problem with your dispenser. When your aids are adjusted properly, you have the best chance of separating speech you want to hear from unwanted background noise.
Some hearing aids are designed especially for people who may be distressed by sudden high-level sounds. These aids are said to provide “compression,” “clipping,” or “limiting.” (These processes differ somewhat.) The maximum amplification is controlled. This has the effect of permitting higher amplification to be used to bring low-level sounds into the range where you hear them more clearly. However, in some cases, this may have the effect of making background noise more prominent.
It is also possible- although not likely- that your hearing impairment is of a type that makes it impossible for you to adjust to amplified sound.
In the final analysis, there is currently no complete solution to the problem of understanding noise.
“I can hear but I can’t understand.”
Two common reasons: (1) The condition is often due to the lack of understanding of the function of hearing aids. Recall, hearing aids function to make sounds louder, but very rarely do they make speech clearer than unamplified sound heard from a high fidelity system. This means that, even when sound is loud enough, the person may be unable to differentiate between different sounds of speech. Under these circumstances, hearing aids make sound loud enough, but the efficiency of the hearing aids is limited by the listener’s inability to hear speech clearly. (2) There is a slight possibility that the hearing aids are faulty and should be checked.
“I don’t understand all the speech through my hearing aids.”
Do not assume that you will understand all of the speech you hear through your hearing aids. Just because you miss some of the words does not mean that the hearing aids are not worth using. The intent is to achieve with your hearing aids a degree of improvement in overall communicative ability.
“I’m trying, but I really can’t tell if my hearing aids are helping.”
One of the greatest difficulties of new hearing aid wearers, especially if your loss is mild, is the ability to assess the results of the hearing aids within a short time after they have been fitted. A rehabilitation (adjustment) period is a MUST because you are not accustomed to the amplification experience. You must first adapt to the hearing aids before an evaluation can be made as to the suitability of the hearing aid fitting.
“What is the difference between hearing, listening, and understanding?”
All three are a part of communication.
However, unlike eyes, ears, when in good physical condition, are “open” 24 hours a day. For example, you can “hear” sounds (traffic, water running, voices in the background, etc.) but not “listen” to them. Additionally, the physical condition of the ear can change in a number of ways. All sounds may be too soft, only some sounds will be too soft, or others may seem too loud. The way your hearing is affected depends upon the degree and type of physical damage to the ears. Therefore, hearing depends upon the physical condition of the ear and is not something you can just turn on or off.
“Why do people raise their voices when they see my hearing aids?”
It is natural for people to try to help you. If you ask them to speak in a normal, conversational tone they will quickly forget that you are wearing hearing aids.
“My aids feel bulky.”
It is possible for hearing aids to feel bulky at first because you are not used to them. But they are quite light and have been contoured to fit your ear, so you will probably get used to them in a few days.
“I feel a fullness in my ears when I wear my aids.”
You may be feeling the air trapped between the tip of the earpiece and your eardrum, or you may have wax in your ear canal. This feeling usually passes in a few days. If the sensation continues to bother you, your dispenser can probably alter the earpiece and relieve the problem or make some other recommendation.
“My own voice sounds different, or loud.”
There are several explanations for this. (1) Because your mouth is very close to the hearing aid microphone, your own voice will sound louder than that of a person who is several feet away. (2) Because of the hearing loss, you have not been hearing your own voice unless you speak loudly. Since the hearing aid amplifies everything, it also amplifies your voice. Often this is an advantage because many hearing-impaired persons tend to talk too loud in order to hear and this allows them to monitor their own voices.
(3) Hearing your own voice through hearing aids is not the same as hearing it naturally. If you have set the hearing aid volume controls to their lowest comfortable levels, you will find this sound easier to adjust to. Over time, you might want to have the volume control increased.
“My hearing aids whistle, or make noise.”
This may be caused by two major problems. (1) An improperly fitted ear piece. This is most likely the cause. Sound escapes from the ear canal around the ear piece, is picked up by the hearing aid microphone, and cause the hearing aid to “squeal.” This is commonly called “feedback.” (2) A defective hearing aid(s). This would be due to a mechanical defect and should be repaired.
“What can hearing aids do?”
They can provide emphasis of certain parts of the audio spectrum. For example, most provide high-pitch emphasis since this is the area most frequently lost by those with hearing impairment.
“What is a HFE aid?”
High frequency emphasis (high pitches amplified) is frequently provided for those who have lost their hearing primarily in the high frequencies. For these individuals, speech is heard, but distinguishing words and/or speech sounds is not easy. These hearing aids are selected so that low-pitched sounds, where hearing is normal, reach the ear without being made louder.
“What won’t hearing aids do?”
No hearing aid will totally eliminate all background noise while enhancing speech. However, hearing aids are designed to try to improve the amplification of speech signals and suppress background noise.
“Why does it take longer for me to adjust to hearing aids?”
Not everyone will receive the same degree of benefit from hearing aids. This depends on the nature and severity of the person’s hearing loss, and, possibly more important, the individual’s motivation to wear hearing aids.
“How long should it take me to adjust to hearing aids?”
Getting used to hearing aids takes about three-to-four weeks. Whether your goal will be easy to achieve or not depends on things other than the hearing you have left.
Adjustment depends on:
“I always know when someone is speaking, but I don’t always know what is being said.”
Mostly, you hear the low-pitched vowel sounds because they have the most energy. Unfortunately, the high-pitched consonant sounds, which provide the majority of information for understanding what is being said, are not being heard.
“I have this hearing aid but I still don’t understand what’s being said.”
Although hearing aids amplify sound, they do not automatically improve clarity. A hearing aid is not a new ear and does not make hearing normal. Unlike new glasses, which often provide an immediate and dramatic improvement in vision, hearing aids require learning and skill to use effectively; the process can be frustratingly slow.
“Even though I cannot function properly without my hearing aids, I’m still exhausted by the strain and frustration of listening with them.”
Because hearing aids do not give you normal hearing, listening can be quite tiring because it requires a certain amount of control over your power of concentration to “block out” meaningless sounds and to “focus in” on those which are meaningful. Give yourself an occasional rest.
“Can my hearing aids restore my hearing?”
While hearing aids can be extremely helpful to people with hearing problems, they can in no way restore hearing. What they do is to provide more information (additional clues) to a deficient auditory system to help you compensate for your loss of hearing.
“The hearing aids are too much of a nuisance, too much to adjust to, and therefore, it’s not worth the time and effort to wear them.”
Not trying to adjust to hearing aids is a mistake! The hearing aids should help you. If you are continuing to have difficulty, there is probably a solution. Seek additional help or recommendation from your hearing aid dispenser.
“Will I become dependent on my hearing aids?”
If you do, it is an indication that you are receiving the needed auditory assistance from them.
Contact Mark Glassman, and the team at Glassman's Hearing Aid Service.
Glassman's Hearing Aid Service
Omaha
3015 N 90th St
Ph. 402-571-1207
Fremont
33 W 6th
Ph. 402-727-7866
"My wife appreciates my hearing aids as much as I do. She claims it has helped my disposition. I know hearing aids have helped me enjoy my family and friends."
Chris Gutschow, Fremont, NE