It is important that you commit to wearing your aids consistently as studies have shown that this can not only assist with hearing day to day, but also improve your speech understanding and processing1, slow down cognitive decline2, 3 and improve mental health4, 5.
Here are some simple steps you can take to achieve the best outcome with your devices.
Wear them consistently during the day
The more you wear your aids, the quicker you will get used to the sound.
- It is normal for things to sound different and louder to begin with, but with consistent wearing, your brain will adapt quickly.
- Your brain needs time to learn how to process new sounds. If you wear the aids in quiet places, it will give you a much nicer transition when you go into somewhere noisy. If you only wear the aids to a restaurant or pub, you’re expecting a lot of your brain! It would be like trying to run a marathon with no training.
- Give yourself time to learn how to put them in, clean them and feel confident. Hearing aids are a tool that you need to practice using so you become better at processing and understanding speech (much like how buying an expensive sports car doesn’t make you a professional racer!)
Discuss hearing device limitations with your family & friends
Discuss the limitations of your hearing devices with your family/friends. Although hearing aids are great, they cannot restore your hearing to normal. Talking with family and friends about this will help them adjust the way they communicate with you.
- Please counsel your family/friends to face you when they speak. Ask them to slow down and speak one at a time where necessary.
- If your hearing loss is heading towards the severe category, there will be limitations on what we expect you to be able to hear in places with lots of background noise. You may need extra accessories such as a remote microphone to help you with this.
Attend your yearly WOOF Review appointments
Seeing your audiologist regularly will help ensure your hearing aids are working properly and updated with your latest hearing test. It will also provide the opportunity to discuss any challenges that you are facing with your devices.
- We service your hearing aids and ensure they are in perfect working order
- We test your hearing to keep on top of any changes
- We re-adjust your hearing devices to your new test with new real-ear-measurements
Educational Sources:
1 Silman, S., Gelfand, S., & Silverman, C.A. (1984).
Late-onset auditory deprivation: Effects of monaural versus binaural hearing aids.
Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 76(5), 1357-1362.
2 Lin, et al. (2023). Hearing intervention versus health education control to reduce cognitive decline in older adults with hearing loss in the USA (ACHIEVE): a multicentre, randomised controlled trial.
The Lancet, 402(10404), 786-797.
3 Bucholc, et al (2021). Association of the use of hearing aids with the conversion from mild cognitive impairment to dementia and progression of dementia: A longitudinal retrospective study.
Alzheimers Association Translational Research and Clinical Interventions, 7(1), 12122.
4 Acar, et al (2011). Effects of hearing aids on cognitive functions and depressive signs in elderly people.
Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics, 52(3), 250-252.
5 Chisholm, et al (2007). A Systematic Review of Health-Related Quality of Life and Hearing Aids: Final Report of the American Academy of Audiology Task Force on the Health-Related Quality of Life Benefits of Amplification in Adults.
Journal of the American Academy of Audiology, 18(2), 151-183.