Top 5 Tips for Adjusting to Your New Hearing Aids

It's officially Better Hearing Month—time to take a close look at your hearing health, and see if there's any changes to be made. 

If you've recently purchased a new pair of hearing aids, there's bound to be a bit of an adjustment period. It's to be expected, particularly if you've never worn any sort of assistive hearing devices before. Don't worry—they'll feel totally natural before you know it. 

Especially if you follow these five tips to help you adjust. 

While a hearing aid should never feel uncomfortable, it will feel a bit unusual to wear yours at first. That's to be expected. It's also why we recommend that you start by wearing your hearing aids at home.

Early on, you'll want to start things off in a relatively quiet room. Get used to all the new sounds you can hear while sitting quietly. From there, you can gradually work your way up to noisier settings. 

It's unlikely that you'll be able to adjust to your new hearing aid in just a day or two. Don't try to force it. Instead, take things slow. Eventually, you'll want to keep your hearing aids on for most of your waking hours.

But for the first few weeks, don't feel bad if you can only wear them a few hours a day. 

One thing a lot of people don't realize about hearing and speech is that your ears are only one half of the equation. There's a ton of mental processing that happens even during a simple one on one. Prior to getting your hearing aids, you likely found this kind of thing exhausting—probably because your brain had to work overtime to process sound, tone, and body language while also compensating for your ears.

It's going to be a lot easier with hearing aids. But it might not be a cakewalk at first. That's why you should practice.

Start by chatting face to face with a friend before eventually working your way up to a group setting (provided it's safe for you to do so). 

If your hearing impairment was severe enough before you got your hearing aids, you might have to retrain your brain a bit. You're probably already used to streaming with subtitles—keep doing that. You should also consider listening to an audiobook and following along with the written text.

Last but not least, one of the more common issues reported by people new to hearing aids is how different—even weird—their voice sounds. Unfortunately, you're just going to have to get used to that. The good news is that it shouldn't take long.

While wearing your hearing aids, talk at every opportunity, even if you're just chatting with yourself. Eventually, your voice will stop sounding so strange. 

Getting a new pair of hearing aids can be pretty overwhelming at times. Fortunately, your audiology professional is here to help. If at any point you start having doubts or encounter any trouble, don't hesitate to give them a call.