Name of Product: Hearing Aids.
Review by Tony. June 2021.
Now you have your shiny new hearing aids there’s no denying you have a hearing problem, welcome to our world!
When you leave the audiology building wearing your hearing aids for the first time you will no doubt be assaulted by the most awfully loud noises you experienced in a long time. This is normal!
Arriving home after surviving a very noisy journey you take them out of your ears to give yourself a break and try again later. Trouble is later it’s still too noisy, this is the point a lot of people decide they’re not for them ‘They’re far too loud and need turning down’.
Unfortunately, not everyone can adjust to wearing hearing aids with ease, you put them back in the box the audiologist gave you and end up unused in a drawer somewhere.
I hear this story almost daily; it is exactly the same with privately dispensed hearing aids. The disappointment experienced is enough to put people off hearing aids for life.
Your audiologist will have chosen the most appropriate device for you, setup and programmed you hearing aid based on your hearing test results. However, sometimes there needs to be adjustments made that only suit the individual. Wearing your hearing aid, gaining experience of the sounds it delivers is the best way to make any adjustment choices for you.
This guide has been put together from my own experiences as someone who not only wears hearing aids but volunteers with deaf people in the community and in my working life.
The following will hopefully ease you into become a successful hearing aid user and getting the best from your device.
Take your time to adjust.
Adjustment to any change in your daily life takes time to get used to, hearing aids are no exception. Let you family know it is a journey of discovery for both you and them. Wearing spectacles assist your eyesight, hearing aids assist your ability to hear, neither cure the problem of impairment.
Over time you have lost the ability to hear every day sounds and your brain has forgotten the normal world of sound is. Now using hearing aids, your brain needs time to re-adjust to these sounds being present again. The noise of a boiling kettle and stirring the pot can be an experience when heard again for the first time.
Build up slowly.
When first starting to use hearing aids you tend to focus on every sound you hear, under normal circumstances our brain filters out background noise as ‘not relevant’, letting your brain learn to do this work takes time.
If you are struggling to adjust to louder than normal sounds try using your hearing aids for short periods and build up to full time use.
Use your hearing aids for short periods in the home at first, outdoors the assault of noise can leave you nursing a headache. When you feel you can do more, you are on the right track, there is no hard and fast rule about how long it takes, everyone is different.
It is better to gain confidence in the home before embarking on the great outdoors. Once again building up time in noisy places is just as important as in the home. My first time in the pub was an experience I won’t forget in a hurry.
Learn to listen.
Sounds silly doesn’t it? But over time it becomes normal for a deaf person to forget the art of listening. As you can’t hear very well therefore you no longer listen in a group conversation, it has become normal to ‘zone out’ and just nod you head knowingly. Now you have the ability to hear more this is where you have to begin to learn to listen again to what is being said. The same goes for everyday sounds, hearing something different for the first time needs investigating, you then know next time. Learning to listen takes time and understanding for everyone. One comment often heard is ‘you’ve got hearing aids but you never listen’!
Make Adjustments or not.
After learning and adjusting to hearing aids the extra sounds not heard for a long time those that appeared to be extremely loud at first no longer are, you have now got used to them as the new normal. However, you may feel there needs to be some adjustments, either up or down in intensity, more balance, less tinny sounding by discussing with your audiologist as to what you require is the only way to improve what you are hearing.
T Link/ Telecoil.
T link or telecoil as it is known, is a setting that allow hearing aid users to take advantage of venues that have a ‘Hearing Loop’ fitted such as shops, banks, cinema and places of worship. Loops allow hearing aid users to receive sound via radio waves, direct to the hearing at the volume set by the audiologist. Perfect sound to your hearing aids with now background noise or distraction is worth exploring. It is worth noting most if not all landline telephones are ‘hearing aid compatible’ and by moving the handset near your hearing aid will engage the telecoil automatically.
The audiologist may have discussed the use of T Link/Telecoil at your initial visit. If your hearing aid is not setup with the link switched on, now is the time to revisit the audiologist for T link enabling.
Other Help & Equipment
Local authorities can provide flashing door bells, room loops or personal listeners for the listening of TV in the home. Contact the sensory impairment team at your local council offices for more information.
As you most likely cannot hear a smoke alarm sounding whilst you sleep there are smoke alarms with a vibrating pad that goes under your mattress to shake you awake. These are fitted at no cost from your local Fire & Rescue services.
If you are in employment and need to use a telephone or attend meetings you may be entitled to assistive technology equipment through the ‘Access to Work’ from the Department of work and Pensions (DWP). Apply on line at https://www.gov.uk/access-to-work
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