Ever wish you could get the inside skinny on what hearing aids are really like? What would your good friend say if you asked honest questions about what hearing aids sound like, what it feels like, and how they actually feel about wearing one? Here’s a description of what hearing aids are like, but if you really want to know, come in for a demonstration.
1. Occasionally You Get Feedback
No, not the kind you might get on a work evaluation. When a microphone and a speaker pick up each other’s signal, they interfere with each other causing a high-pitched screeching sound. It causes a sound loop that even advanced speakers like those in hearing aids don’t know how to handle.
They might squeal like a speaker in the school auditorium right before the principal starts talking.
Even though this can be uncomfortable, when hearing aids are properly tuned, it’s rare. If you’re encountering it, the earmold may not be properly fitted or you need to replace it.
Some advanced hearing aids have a feedback suppression system that identifies feedback and stops it in its tracks.
2. You Can Hear Conversations in a Noisy Restaurant
If you suffer from untreated hearing loss, eating dinner with your family or friends in a loud restaurant can feel like you’re eating alone. It’s nearly impossible to follow the conversations. Most of the night, you may wind up just nodding and smiling.
But today’s hearing aids have the advanced noise blocking capability for background sound. They bring the voices of your children and the servers into crystal clearness.
3. Sometimes it Gets a Little Sticky
Your body has a way of letting you know when something shouldn’t be there. If you eat something too spicy hot, you produce more saliva to rinse it out. If you get something in your eye, you produce tears to flush your eye. Your ears have their own way of removing a nuisance.
They create extra wax.
Due to this, earwax buildup can occasionally be an issue for individuals who wear hearing aids. It’s only wax, thankfully, so cleaning it isn’t an issue. (We can help you learn how.)
Then you’ll simply put that hearing aid back in and start enjoying your hearing again.
4. There Are Advantages For Your Brain
You might be surprised by this one. When a person has hearing loss, it very slowly starts to affect brain function if they don’t have it treated quickly.
Accurately understanding spoken language is one of the first things you lose. Then memory, learning new things, and solving problems become a difficulty.
Getting hearing aids as soon as possible helps slow this brain atrophy. Your brain gets re-trained. Research shows that they can decrease mental decline and even reverse it. As a matter of fact, one study reported by AARP revealed that 80% of people had improved cognitive function after treating their hearing loss.
5. The Batteries Have to be Replaced
Many individuals simply hate dealing with those little button batteries. And these batteries seem to pick the worst time to die, like when you’re waiting for a call from your doctor.
But straight forward solutions exist to reduce much of this perceived battery hassle. There are strategies you can use to substantially increase battery life. The batteries are small and inexpensive, so it’s easy to carry an extra set in your wallet.
Or, nowadays you can buy hearing aids that are rechargeable. Just dock it on the charger when you go to bed. In the morning, just put them back on. There are also solar-powered hearing aid chargers so you can even recharge your hearing aid while out camping, fishing, or hiking.
6. You Will Have a Learning Curve
The technology of modern-day hearing aids is rather sophisticated. It’s not as hard as learning to use a new computer. But adjusting to your new hearing aids will certainly take some time.
It gradually improves as you keep wearing your hearing aids. Try to be patient with yourself and the hearing aids during this transition.
People who have stayed the course and worn their hearing aids for six months or more usually will say it’s all worth it.
This is what it’s really like to wear hearing aids. Isn’t it time to find out for yourself?
References
https://www.aarp.org/health/brain-health/info-07-2013/hearing-loss-linked-to-dementia.html