Tanya is sitting with her hearing specialist, being fitted for her very first set of hearing aids. And she’s experiencing a little anxiety. Her anxiety isn’t actually that bad. But hearing aids are new to her, and she’s somewhat worried that she will feel uncomfortable with a high tech gadget sitting in her ear canal, particularly since she’s never been a big fan of earbuds or earplugs.
These concerns are not only felt by Tanya. Fit and general comfort are concerns for many new hearing aid users. Tanya has every desire of wearing her hearing aids. She’s looking forward to hearing her son’s jokes and listening to her television at a volume not likely to cause trouble with the neighbors. But will those hearing aids be fit her ears comfortably?
How to Adjust When You First Wear Your Hearing Aids
So, is wearing hearing aids uncomfortable? The short answer is: some people find them to be a little uncomfortable at first. As with many things in life, there’s an adjustment time, meaning your early level of comfort will fluctuate. But over time, you’ll get used to the feeling of your hearing aids and become more comfortable.
Often it’s just nice to know that these adjustments are coming. Knowing what you should expect will help your adjustment period be easier.
There are two stages to your adjustment:
- Adjusting to the feeling of a hearing aid: Your hearing specialist may recommend that you start off gradually wearing your hearing aids so you can take some time to become accustomed to the feeling of the device in your ear. That being said, there shouldn’t be any pain involved. If you’re experiencing pain because of your hearing aid, you should absolutely speak with your hearing specialist as soon as possible.
In order to enhance your general comfort and speed up the adjustment period, get in touch with your hearing specialist if you’re having trouble with the physical positioning or sound quality of your hearing aids.
Can I Make my Hearing Aids More Comfortable?
Fortunately, there are a few strategies that have proven to be fairly effective over the years.
- Start slow: If you’re breaking in your first pair of hearing aids, you shouldn’t feel as if you have to wear them all day, every day right away. You can build up to that. Begin by wearing your hearing aid for one to four hours a day. Having said that, you’ll want to work up to wearing your hearing aids all day, but you don’t have to start there.
- Get the right fit: Fitting your ears comfortably is what hearing aids are made to do. It could take several appointments with your hearing specialist to get everything working and fitting just right. And for maximum comfort and effectiveness, you may want to think about a custom fit hearing aid.
- Practice: The world might sound quite a bit different after you get your hearing aids. And it could take some time for your ears to adjust, especially when it comes to speech. In order to get the hang of it more quickly, there are lots of exercises you can do including watching a movie with caption or reading along with an audiobook.
Making Your Hearing Aids More Comfortable
Your hearing aids may feel a little uncomfortable for the first few days or weeks. But the faster you adapt to your new hearing aids, the faster they’ll become a comfortable part of your day to day life. Wearing them every day is crucial to make that transition work.
Before you know it, you’ll be thinking about is having good conversation with friends.