Hearing Aid Fitting
A successful hearing aid fitting is more than selecting the best device for your communication needs. To maximize hearing aid benefit your Audiologist will program and verify that the hearing aids are providing the correct amount of amplification by doing Real Ear Measurements. Verification provides the audiologist insight on how loud sounds are presented into your ear canal. Your Audiologist will make recommendations for adjustments based on the hearing aid performance.
Once the hearing aids are programmed, your audiologist will review the care and maintenance of the hearing aids. We will practice hearing aid maintenance such as cleaning, inserting the hearing aids, and changing the batteries.
Helpful tips for success with your new hearing aids:
- Expect a period of adjustment. It can take a few weeks to get comfortable with listening to new sounds and using your new hearing aids.
- Well fit hearing aids should be comfortable in your ears. Any discomfort should be reported to your audiologist immediately in order for the issue to be resolved.
- Your Audiologist will recommend daily use of your hearing aids. Regular use of hearing aids improves your chances for successful adjustment.
- Follow up fine-tuning visits are necessary to ensure maximum benefits.
- The initial reaction to your own voice with hearing aids can be surprising. Patients often say their own voice is louder and sounds strange or like “they are talking in a barrel”. This is frequently caused by hearing yourself amplified through a microphone. If you are not able to adjust to your voice after regular use of the hearing aids for a few days, you may be experiencing something called the “occlusion effect.” Any displeasure such as this should be described and discussed with your Audiologist. They will listen to your concerns and make adjustments to your hearing aid settings to improve sound quality.
- Environmental sounds like running water, footsteps, paper crinkling, etc. will be amplified. These are sounds you may not have heard since developing a hearing loss. In time, you can learn to ignore these sounds again.
- Hearing aids can whistle! The whistling is called acoustic feedback. It occurs when there is not a tight seal between the sound going into the ear and the ear. It is normal for the hearing aids to whistle when the hearing aids are covered. For example, cupping your ears when your hearing aids are in, will likely produce whistling. However, this should not happen spontaneously when you are using your hearing aid. If you do experience spontaneous or excessive feedback, be sure to contact your audiologist.