So you don’t wear your hearing aids very often? Maybe you put them in when you go to a party or go to the theater, but otherwise, you leave them in your drawer. Do you really need to wear them more often than that?
Over the long term, you make trouble for yourself if you’re not wearing your hearing aids on a regular basis and that’s a problem. You could harm your hearing irreversibly. You could suffer from social isolation and mental decline. You may compromise your general health. So, if you are not using your hearing aids, you should definitely pay attention to this.
Why Are Your Hearing Aids Not in
If your hearing aids are sitting unused in a nightstand drawer somewhere, you most likely have a reason. Sure, perhaps you haven’t really been forthcoming about what those reasons might be. Perhaps, when your family questions you, you might even say something generic and elusive, like, “I just don’t like them”.
Certainly, though, there’s more to the story than that. Usually, there’s an exact reason why you don’t use your hearing aids. Specific issues are good because they create the possibility to find an equally specific remedy.
Some of the most common grievances include the following;
“My Hearing Aids Don’t Feel Comfortable”
One of the most commonly reported reasons that people stop wearing their hearing aids normally is discomfort. Maybe the hearing aid won’t stop falling out of your ear. Or maybe tenderness and pain are happening in just the wrong spot with your over-the-ear model.
It’s not supposed to be uncomfortable to wear hearing aids, so if they’re causing discomfort of any kind, something is certainly not right. And it’s logical that you wouldn’t want to use a piece of technology that causes pain, frustration or soreness.
Possible solution: If you’re uncomfortable with your hearing aids, consider scheduling an additional or follow-up fitting session. A couple slight adjustments might be all your hearing aid needs. Some models can even be entirely personalized to the shape and size of your ears. The more comfortable your hearing aid fits, the more likely you are to keep it in place for long periods of time.
My Hearing Aid Has Poor Sound Quality
Perhaps you experience the sound of your hearing aid to be too fuzzy or tinny so you don’t wear them very often. It’s not surprising that you have decided to put your hearing aids away for a special occasion, if that’s the situation.”
This tinny or fuzzy sound can happen because hearing aids are performing complex auditory functions at all times, amplifying some sounds while filtering out others. So the sound quality might seem unreliable if your settings aren’t properly tweaked.
Solution: This issue has two possible solution: maintenance and calibration. Your hearing aids may be damaged in some form or another and need to be
repaired. But your hearing specialist can do a simple calibration which is all your hearing aids might require.
When I Use my Hearing Aid Voices Are Muffled
You want to hear voices clearly. That’s the whole reason why you got hearing aids to begin with! You didn’t want to miss a single word. So it may be a little bit aggravating if all the voices you hear when your wearing you’re hearing aid are muffled or hard to comprehend.
This usually happens when you first buy your hearing aids because your brain and ears aren’t necessarily used to communicating all that well anymore (it’s like they had a falling out or something).
The Solution: Keep practicing. Comprehending conversations is something your brain will need to become accustomed to, so anything you can do to get some repetition will help. Try reading along to an audiobook or reading along with the closed captioning while watching NCIS. Merely having more discussions with the people who are around you is a perfect way to get some practice, too.
Finding Solutions
You can find a solution regardless of why you’re not using your hearing aid. And it is essential, both for your hearing health and your cognitive well-being, that you wear your hearing aids routinely.
So if your hearing aids aren’t be working perfectly for you? Determine the problem and come up with a solution, so you can get active in your life again. If you believe your hearing aids need adjustment, consult your hearing care professional now.
