Hearing loss is one of the most common problems to affect us as we age. While about one-third of adults age 60–69 have hearing loss, the fraction climbs to two-thirds for those above 70. By age 100, nearly everyone has hearing loss. If we live long enough, just about all of us will experience hearing loss at some point.
If you’ve chosen to treat your hearing loss with hearing aids, good for you! Hearing aids are the best way to manage the effects of hearing loss throughout our lives. Hearing aids allow our ears to continue sending plenty of information to our brains, which is good for us in all kinds of ways. Hearing aids help us to live life on our terms, while avoiding the negative health outcomes associated with untreated hearing loss.
If you’re new to wearing hearing aids, you probably have some questions. After you’ve worn your hearing aids for a little bit, you’ll probably have more questions! Never fear: the answers are out there, and you’ll soon be perfectly at ease while wearing your hearing aids.
Let’s answer a few common questions that new wearers tend to ask. And remember, if you have questions that you can’t easily find the answers to, it’s always a good idea to reach out to our team at Hearing Wellness Solutions.
How Long Will It Take To Adjust To My New Hearing Aids?
A small percentage of new wearers will feel at home in their hearing aids almost immediately. Generally this is the case only for those who have just started to experience mild hearing loss. While most people tend to wait longer before starting to wear hearing aids, it is highly recommended to start wearing them at the first signs of mild hearing loss as it makes the transition easier, and prevents the changes in the brain that occur when hearing loss goes untreated.
Especially for those who have waited longer to start wearing hearing aids, it will take some time to adapt to the experience. Many people are annoyed by the hundreds of quiet sounds that hearing loss made it impossible for them to hear. The fridge buzzing, air conditioners humming, feet scraping on the floor, the sounds of other people chewing… The list goes on.
While these sounds may be annoying at first, remember that at some point you heard all of these sounds without being bothered by them. Once you adjust to your new hearing aids, you won’t even notice them most of the time—just like you didn’t notice them for most of your life prior to hearing loss.
Our team will provide you with instructions on how to adjust most easily to your new hearing aids. This usually includes wearing them only for some portion of the day at first, and working your way up to wearing them all day.
If you’re struggling to adjust after a few weeks, or if some sounds are painfully loud with your hearing aids in, contact our team about the issue and we can adjust the programming of your hearing aids to better suit your needs.
How Well Will I Hear?
Your hearing aids are programmed to address your specific hearing needs. Some models boast that they offer “better-than-normal speech comprehension” or similar technology, which may be the case in certain situations. But “speech comprehension” is different than hearing. The goal with hearing aids is to deliver as much relevant information to your brain as possible, and a good-quality set of hearing aids will do that very well.
Your hearing aids will allow you to participate more actively in conversations and hear what’s happening in the world around you. While the quality of sound and your ability to identify the spatial location of sounds may not measure up to normal hearing, the benefits of wearing hearing aids to your health and well-being still far outweigh their deficits.
How Long Will My Hearing Aids Last?
Hearing aids have a lifespan of about 3–7 years. That seems like a wide range, but that’s because there are so many factors that can affect the longevity of a pair of hearing aids. The climate where you live, your individual body chemistry, the lifestyle you lead, and the maintenance practices you keep up will all contribute to how long your hearing aids will last.