New hearing aids: How to adapt to devices?

Choosing and buying hearing aids is a step towards healthy hearing, a step towards cheerful communication with friends, and conversations with loved ones. This is not an easy path, and you must go through it to enjoy life. Can I use hearing aids for a long time right away? Unfortunately, no. First, you need to go through an adaptation period.

What is the adaptation period to hearing aids?

Everyone, who wears hearing aids for the first time faces various feelings. People have to visit the doctor, underwent hearing tests, and purchase hearing aids Staten Island to improve their hearing. But unfortunately, they can’t enjoy their new devices right off the bat. It takes some time to get used to hearing aids. 

Everyone has to go through an adaptation period to hearing aids. Only after it will you be able to use medical devices throughout the day! The adjustment period is the time you should spend to get used to the new acoustic conditions before using your hearing aids.

Why does this happen?

The reasons for the adaptation period are the specifics of our brains. With a gradual decrease in hearing, the brain rebuilds its work under new conditions. As a result, the brain turns off some areas and turns on others. It gets used to new conditions, so to speak.

When you put on your hearing aids, you change the acoustic conditions abruptly, therefore, you can feel discomfort and even pain. The brain needs time for you to hear well again. When it rearranges its work, you will be able to use your hearing aids to the fullest!

The period of adaptation is individual for each person. Nevertheless, some rules may help you help to pass this time faster and more painlessly. Here they are.

How do I get used to hearing aids quickly and painlessly?

You bought a hearing aid after consulting with your doctor. Great! You just need to take the last step toward restoring your hearing. The hearing care professional will give you the necessary recommendations that’ll help you go through the adaptation period depending on your individual characteristics. However, we have prepared some tips for you to speed up the process!

In the first week, the hearing aid should be used primarily in a quiet home environment. Two to three hours a day will be enough to start with. Gradually, it is necessary to increase this period so that by the end of the week you can comfortably wear the hearing aid at home all day long. At this stage, it is important to get used to your voice, learn to distinguish sounds in a quiet environment, and understand speech when communicating with one person. Remove the hearing aid if you feel tired (headache, dizziness, pressure).

Let’s look at exercises that will help you get used to new hearing aids faster.

First-week exercises

Do the following exercises during the first-week hearing aids wearing:

• Listen to the surrounding sounds in the apartment for a few minutes every day, for example, the noise of pipes, the sound of dishes, the ticking of the clock, or the murmur of water. Try to focus on all the sounds at once and each separately
• The next goal is to get used to your own voice. In a quiet room, try to talk and read aloud any literature, such as a newspaper article or a book. Concentrate on your own speech. Pay attention to how your voice sounds. Try to experiment by making the voice higher or lower. Very soon you’ll get used to hearing yourself
• Try to chat with one interlocutor in a quiet room. Ask someone close to you to read aloud. Try to concentrate on the individual words in the speech. Try repeating individual phrases after the interlocutor

Hearing care professionals recommend getting used to hearing aids outside the home in the first week. In addition to home exercises, there are street exercises. Choose a quiet place in the fresh air, such as a quiet courtyard, park, square, or lawn on the outskirts of the city. You should avoid an auditory environment with loud and harsh sounds. Listen to the sounds of nature. 

Second-week exercises

Have you completed the first week of adaptation? It’s cool! Now proceed to the following exercises:

• Ask someone close to you to talk to you on the street. Start with a short distance of two to three meters. Try to gradually increase the distance and repeat what your interlocutor has said
• Watch TV and listen to music. To avoid overwork, limit the listening session to twenty minutes, gradually increasing its duration by the end of the week
• Ask your loved one to read aloud the same pairs of words with alternating voiceless and sonorous sounds. Repeat the words after the interlocutor, who must control the correctness of your answers
• Try talking with two people at the same time

Third-week exercises

In the third week, it’s time to visit noisy places. Now you need to visit places with a high level of noise, such as busy streets, public transport, and restaurants. At first, do not spend a lot of time in such places, gradually increasing it by the end of the week. It is important to periodically adjust your hearing aid.

• Try to catch individual sounds in a high-noise environment, such as people’s speech, the noise of car engines, children’s voices, etc. 
• Increase the time you listen to music. Try to do household chores at the same time, periodically concentrating on the information you are interested in
• Communicate with a group of people. Try to take an active part in the discussion

Fourth-week exercises

The fourth week completes the initial course of adaptation to the hearing aid. At this stage, the user already feels quite calm in various acoustic environments. It’s time to enter your usual rhythm of life, combining different activities!

• Start active phone communication. During the conversation, listen to the speech of the interlocutor. Pay attention to the differences between the person’s voice in live communication and a telephone conversation
• Attend exhibitions, concerts, performances, and other noisy events. Try to choose places closer to the sound sources. It’ll help you focus on them more easily and quickly get used to such a complex acoustic environment

After completing the adaptation, visit the attending hearing care professional. The doctor will make the final changes to your hearing aids. Congrats, now you can use them with comfort!