Ever wish you could get the inside scoop on what hearing aids are actually like? How does a hearing aid feel when you’re wearing one, what does it sound like, and what does it feel like in your ears are all questions you may want to ask someone who already has hearing aids? 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 may get on a work evaluation. When a microphone and a speaker pick up each other’s signal, they interfere with each other resulting in a high-pitched whistling sound. Even modern microphone and speaker systems can have a sound loop created.
We’ve all heard this kind of feedback right before somebody begins speaking into a microphone.
Although this can be unpleasant, when hearing aids are correctly tuned, it’s rare. If you’re encountering it, the earmold might not be correctly fitted or you need to replace it.
Feedback can be eliminated, in some more advanced hearing aids, by a built-in feedback cancellation system.
2. Conversations Are Easier to Follow in a Noisy Setting
Going to a restaurant with the family can feel like eating dinner by yourself if you have neglected hearing loss. It’s nearly impossible to keep up with the conversations. Most of the evening, you might find yourself just nodding and smiling.
But today’s hearing aids have the advanced ability to block out background noise. The voices of your family and the wait staff become crystal clear.
3. At Times it Gets a Bit Sticky
When something is not right, your body has a way of responding to it. Your body will produce saliva if you eat something too spicy. If you get an eyelash in your eye, you produce tears to flush your eye. Your ears also have a defense system of their own.
They produce extra wax.
As a result of this, earwax buildup can occasionally be a problem for individuals who use hearing aids. Luckily, it’s only wax and it’s not a big deal to clean the hearing aids. (We’ll teach you how.)
Then you’ll simply put that hearing aid back in and start enjoying your hearing again.
4. There Are Advantages For Your Brain
This one might surprise you. If somebody begins developing hearing loss it will gradually affect brain function as it progresses.
One of the first things you lose is the ability to comprehend what people are saying. Then memory, learning new things, and problem-solving become a difficulty.
Getting hearing aids sooner than later helps slow this brain atrophy. They re-train your brain. Studies show that they can slow down mental decline and even reverse it. In fact, 80% of people had increased brain function, according to research carried out by the AARP, after wearing hearing aids to manage their hearing loss.
5. The Batteries Have to be Replaced
Those tiny button batteries can be a little challenging to deal with. And they seem to die at the worst times, like when you’re about to hear “whodunnit” in a mystery movie, or just as your friend is telling you the juicy details of a story.
But straight forward solutions exist to alleviate much of this perceived battery trouble. You can greatly increase battery life by employing the right strategies. The batteries are small and inexpensive, so it’s easy to carry an extra set in your wallet.
Or, currently you can purchase rechargeable hearing aids. When you go to bed, simply dock them on the charger. Put it back on in the morning. You can even get some hearing aids with solar-powered chargers so you can charge them even if you are camping or hiking.
6. You Will Experience a Learning Curve
The technology of modern hearing aids is rather advanced. It isn’t as hard as learning to operate a new computer. But it certainly takes a little time for your brain to adapt to new hearing aids and to get the settings right.
The longer and more regularly you use hearing aids the better it gets. During this adjustment time, try to be patient with yourself and your new hearing aids.
Anyone who’s been wearing a pair of hearing aids for six months or more will tell you that it’s worth it.
This is what it’s really like to wear hearing aids. Isn’t it time to learn for yourself?
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References
https://www.aarp.org/health/brain-health/info-07-2013/hearing-loss-linked-to-dementia.html