Congratulations on your new hearing aids! You’ve taken the first step to better hearing health, confident communication, and greater connection to the world around you. Now that you have your hearing aids, it’s time to begin the adjustment process. It isn’t easy at first, and it can take a while, so let’s walk through the first few weeks with your hearing aids.
Why Your Brain Needs to Adjust to Hearing Aids
When hearing loss is left untreated, it doesn’t go away. Instead, the centers in your brain that process sound go underused, and they get rusty. Think of your brain like a muscle: it’s out of shape.
With hearing aids, it’s like taking your brain to the gym for the first time in a long time. It will suddenly be receiving significantly more sound information every minute: the sound of your own voice, background noise you hadn’t even noticed you couldn’t hear anymore, sounds from behind you. This is a good thing! But it will overwhelm your brain. As you wear your hearing aids, your brain will get back into shape.
What To Expect During the Adjustment Process
You may feel overstimulated as sounds overwhelm your brain. Additionally, your brain will require more mental energy as it acclimates itself to the increased workload, causing headaches, brain fog or fatigue.
You also need to adjust to the feeling of having something in your ears. You may feel distracted by their presence, or they may make your ears feel itchy or warm. Over time, you’ll get used to the sensation.
Most often, new hearing aid users report mood changes during adjustment. In particular, you may get easily annoyed by background sounds, like footsteps or chewing. This frustration is normal and will improve as you get acclimated and your brain relearns to filter out background noise.
Tips To Make the Adjustment Period Smoother
Wear Your Hearing Aids at Home to Start
Get used to clearer hearing in a familiar environment where you can largely anticipate what sounds you’ll hear, allowing you and your brain to “warm up” with the reintroduction of background noise. Don’t overwhelm yourself by going somewhere with a heavy auditory load—like a restaurant or other public place—right away.
Make Sure You Know How to Put Them in Properly
When people who have hearing aids choose not to wear them, they usually cite discomfort as the reason. But often, discomfort is due to improperly putting them on, not the design or fit of the hearing aid. When putting in your hearing aids, aim for a snug, comfortable fit in the ear, with a proper seal in the ear canal.
Wear Your Hearing Aids for as Long as You Can
Challenge yourself. Wear them for as long as you can on the first day—ideally a few hours. The second day, wear them for one hour longer than you did the day before. Add another hour on the third day, another hour on the fourth, and so on until you can wear them all day.
Practice
Narrate your activities to yourself out loud to get used to the sound of your voice. Listen to audiobooks and stream videos. Challenge yourself to hear as many sounds as you can and identify where they’re coming from. All of these get you accustomed to hearing and practice being aware of what you hear.
Expect Frustration
As discussed above, frustration is common when adjusting to new hearing aids. Be aware of this and be patient with yourself. If you start feeling frustrated, take a break from your hearing aids to decompress, but always give yourself grace: this is a big change.
Attend Your Follow-up Appointment
You will have a follow-up appointment with your audiologist two to four weeks after you get your hearing aids. Make sure you attend and check in with your audiologist. Talk about any discomfort or frustrations you may have experienced, but also celebrate this positive change and how exciting it is to hear more clearly. Call Charleston ENT & Allergy today to discuss more!