So you don’t use your hearing aids all that often? Perhaps you put them in when you go to a party or go to the theater, but in most cases, you leave them in the drawer. Do you really need to use them more often than that?
The problem is that when you don’t wear your hearing aids regularly, you’re developing some troubling disadvantages for yourself in the long run. Your hearing may get drastically worse. Cognitive decline and social isolation could be the consequences. Your overall health might be affected. This content will help you discover why you should be using your hearing aids.
Why Aren’t Your Hearing Aids in Your Ears?
If your hearing aids are sitting unused in a nightstand drawer somewhere, you most likely have an excuse. Sure, maybe you haven’t really been forthcoming about what those reasons are. Maybe you brush off the questions from your family when they ask why you’re not wearing them.
Stilted dialogue to the side, we know that’s not the complete story, right? If you dig a little deeper, you’ll most likely find that there’s a specific grievance at the heart of your infrequent hearing aid use. Specific issues are good because they generate an opportunity to find an equally specific remedy.
Some of the most common issues include the examples below;
“My Hearing Aids Aren’t Very Comfortable”
Discomfort is one of the most frequently cited grounds for people not wearing their hearing aids. Sometimes, the hearing aid keeps falling out of your ear. Or maybe your over-the-ear model chafes in just the wrong spot, causing tenderness and pain.
Hearing aids aren’t supposed to be unpleasant, so something is most definitely wrong if they are creating any kind of irritation. And soreness, frustration, and pain are not things you would desire from any piece of technology.
Possible solution: If you’re uncomfortable with your hearing aids, consider scheduling an additional or follow-up fitting session. It’s altogether possible that the fit of your hearing aid just needs a few quick adjustments. Some designs can even be completely personalized to the size and shape of your ears. You will be capable of leaving your hearing aid in longer if it fits properly and is comfortable.
I’m Experiencing Poor Quality Sound From my Hearing Aids
Maybe you don’t use your hearing aids regularly because you find the sound to be tinny or fuzzy. If that’s the case, it’s not surprising that you’ve decided to store your hearing aids in your nightstand drawer and save them for “special occasions”.”
This fuzzy or tinny sound can happen because hearing aids are carrying out complex auditory functions at all times, filtering out some sounds while trying to amplify others. So if your settings aren’t correctly adjusted, the sound quality may seem unreliable.
Solution: There are two potential answers to this difficulty: calibration and upkeep. Your hearing aids may be damaged in some way or another and need to be
repaired. But your hearing specialist can perform a simple calibration which is all your hearing aids may require.
Voices Are Muffled When I Wear my Hearing Aids
When you hear people talking, you want to be able to hear them with clarity. That’s the whole reason why you bought hearing aids in the first place! You needed to be certain you didn’t miss any relevant discussions. So it might be a little bit discouraging if all the voices you hear with you’re hearing aid are muffled or difficult to understand.
This generally occurs when you first use your hearing aids because your brain and ears aren’t necessarily used to communicating all that well anymore (it’s like they had a disagreement or something).
Solution: Keep practicing. Understanding conversations is something your brain will have to become accustomed to, so putting yourself in situations where you can hear people conversing regularly will help. Try reading along to an audiobook or reading along with the closed captioning while you watch NCIS. Another way to get some good practice is simply by having conversations with people you come in contact with.
Finding Answers
You can find an answer no matter what the reason you’re not wearing your hearing aid. And you need to wear your hearing aid routinely in order to protect your cognitive health and the health of your hearing.
So if your hearing aids don’t seem to be working perfectly for you? After pinpointing the issue, find a solution, so you can help your hearing aids, and everything that they help you hear, part of your daily life. If you suspect your hearing aids need adjustment, get in touch with your hearing care professional now.