| GETTING THE BEST FROM YOUR HEARING AID |
People suffering from hearing loss, rarely immediately discover they have the ailment. Generally this happens because hearing loss by its nature rarely happens suddenly – tending instead to start out mildly, and then progressively getting worse. The sufferer will during this period experience the problems arising from the loss of hearing with increasing frequency until, if s/he decides to visit a competent professional, it is discovered through diagnostic tests, that s/he has hearing impairment. Before then, as many anecdotes about such people suggest, s/he would even have complained about those around him/her NOT speaking properly, without realizing the problem was IN his/her ears, and not their mouths! If you have just been fitted with your own hearing aid, the above painted scenario may be familiar to you. Looking back, you probably recall that initially you had difficulty coming to terms with the fact that you could no longer hear normally using your natural ears. And the prospect of having to depend on an external gadget to enhance your ability to hear may not have appealed to you much. The reality however is that using that gadget – the hearing aid – is the best chance you have of ever hearing normally again. The damage done to your ears, whatever the cause is often permanent. Only those who are able to detect onset of hearing loss at very early stages stand a chance of recovering from it. Now that you have accepted to use your hearing aid, it is important that you understand that it may not be a smooth run, especially in the beginning. One reason for this is that your loss of hearing over time will have caused you to “forget” what normal sounds are like. You will therefore need to be patient in learning to “hear” all the sounds you may not have heard for a while again. One or more of the strategies outlined below may be worthy of your consideration as you try to achieve the foregoing: 1. Don’t Expect Your Hearing To Normalize: So long as it is properly fitted and adjusted, your hearing aid will work very well. However you must accept the reality that it cannot restore your hearing to what it was i.e. normal. This is an important first step towards making successful use of your hearing aid. Without this, you will not he happy. 2. Re-Train Your Brain To Accept Normal Sounds: Experts advise that your brain will need to be “re-educated” to recognize the different sounds in your environment being transmitted by your new hearing devices as normal. For instance people around you will over time have learned to speak louder than they normally would, at your request, so that you can hear them. With your new hearing aid, they may come across as if shouting. Don’t let this bother or alarm you however. Be patient, and over time, you will re-adjust to hearing them. Even your own voice may sound too loud or even different initially. Again, avoid getting upset about it – you must accept that this is how your voice is, and get used to hearing it that way. One more thing: Keep in mind that if you really want to maximize your use of the aid, you need to practice identifying the source of sounds you hear by listening only. Remember that your hearing aid – especially the technologically advanced ones widely available today – has a volume control you can adjust. And others even have in-built automatic volume adjusters. 3. Break Yourself In Gradually: Reports from many experts about the observed high rate of discontinued hearing aid use by patients suggest it is better to start by putting them on for short periods initially, and over time extend the period of use. For instance Neil Bauman Ph.D, in a May 2004 Acrobat PDF article titled “Becoming Friends With Your New Hearing Aids” suggested wearing the hearing aid on the first day for only one hour, increasing the period of use by one hour (or thirty minutes if your prefer) every subsequent day. You will do this until you become comfortable wearing them continuously – which is not likely to happen in a few days, as confirmed by Bauman who stated in his paper that it takes 30 to 90 days for the brain to adjust to new sounds. 4. Practice With Yourself & Others: Spending time on your own with your hearing aid on, listening to the different sounds in your home, office or general surrounding, will be a good way to regain familiarity with the sounds in your environment. You will also find it useful to talk with others in quiet areas. Reading to yourself in low and high volume will also help you get used to the sound of your voice through your hearing aid. 5. Start By Using It In Restricted Situations: A lot of new hearing aid users often get a shock when they wear them into noisy public places – like the traffic congested roadways, party venues etc. The disturbingly loud hearing sensation they get from the confusing rush of different sounds (produced by cars horns, sirens, musical shops, loud speakers etc) can be traumatizing, and even cause the hearing aid user to abandon it! It is advisable for you to start by using your hearing aid while talking to your family or friends or while watching TV. While listening during this period, try adjusting your hearing aid volume control until you arrive at a comfortable level that you can choose as a default setting. With the new line of Digital Hearing Aid -S-Series, you will not have to bother about these different environmental problems, because the aid has memory to adapt to these different sounds. |
