Wearing hearing aids often requires an adjustment period.
Adjusting to wearing a hearing aid for the first time can be difficult. The adjustment time is different for everyone. Some wearers get accustomed to them in a few days. It may take several months for others. In order to have realistic expectations and reduce frustration, be aware that an adjustment period is normal.
Most hearing healthcare professionals agree that it is important to wear your hearing aids as much as possible. The more you wear them, the faster your brain will acclimate to the new sounds you are hearing. A new hearing aid wearer must allow time for the brain to readjust to these new signals it is receiving from the reintroduction of sound.
Typically, certain things may sound strange at first. Your own voice may sound different and loud, others voices may sound slightly tinny, and you may hear things like the refrigerator running or a computer hum for the first time in a long time. Once your brain has time to sort through this new information, these sounds will not be so strange and foreign to you.
It is important to be open with your hearing healthcare professional about what you like and do not like about your new hearing aids. The more specific you can be, the greater the chance that the professional can adjust the hearing aids accordingly. Hearing aid professionals often suggest that the new wearer keep a running list of any and all observations the wearer has during the first couple of weeks of hearing aid usage.
In addition to talking with your hearing healthcare professional, it may help to talk with friends and family members that also have hearing aids. However, keep in mind that every hearing aid wearer’s experience can be different. There are a lot of factors that go into how well a person will do with hearing aids such as amount, type and configuration of hearing loss; how well they can understand speech; the type of hearing aid they are fit with; as well as patient motivation and family support.
