Tanya is sitting with her hearing specialist, being fitted for her very first set of hearing aids. And it’s causing her some anxiety. Her anxiety isn’t really that bad. But she’s never used hearing aids before, and she’s a little worried about how comfortable she’ll feel with a high tech gadget inside of her ears, particularly since she’s never been a big fan of earplugs or earbuds.
These worries are not unique to Tanya. Lots of first-time hearing aid users have fears about the overall fit and comfort of their hearing aids. Tanya has every desire of wearing her hearing aids. Now she won’t need to crank up the television so loud that it bothers her family or even her neighbors. But will those hearing aids be fit her ears comfortably?
Adapting to Hearing Aids For The First Time
So, are hearing aids uncomfortable? The short response is: some people experience them as a little uncomfortable at first. As with many things in life, there’s an adjustment time, meaning your early level of comfort will fluctuate. But you will get more comfortable in time as you become used to your hearing aids.
Recognizing that these adjustments will occur can help ease some of the stress. Knowing what you should expect will help your adjustment period be smoother.
Adapting to your hearing aid includes two phases:
If either the sound quality or the physical positioning of the hearing aids is annoying you, it’s critical to consult your hearing specialist about adjustments to enhance your general comfort and advance the adjustment period.
How Can I Improve The Comfort of My Hearing Aids?
Thankfully, there are a few methods that have proven to be rather successful over the years.
- Start slow: If you’re breaking in your first set of hearing aids, you shouldn’t feel as though you need to wear them all day, every day right off the bat. You can build up to that. Begin by wearing your hearing aid for one to four hours a day. Eventually, you will be wearing your hearing aids all day, when you become comfortable with them.
- Get the right fit: Fitting your ears properly is what hearing aids are made to do. It could take a number of appointments with your hearing specialist to get everything functioning and just the right fit. And for maximum effectiveness and comfort, you may want to think about a custom fit hearing aid.
- Practice: The world might sound quite a bit different once you get your hearing aids. Adapting to sound, particularly speech, could take a while. There are many exercises (reading along with an audiobook or watching your favorite movie with the closed captions turned on) that can help you get better at this a little more quickly.
You’re Hearing Aids Can be More Comfortable
Your hearing aids might feel a little awkward for the first few days or weeks. But the more quickly you adjust to your new hearing aids, the faster they’ll become a comfortable part of your day to day life. Wearing them on a daily basis is critical to make that transition happen.
Before long all you will have to think about is what you hear, not how you hear it.