So you don’t wear your hearing aids regularly? Perhaps 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 actually need to use them more often than that?
The problem is that when you don’t use your hearing aids regularly, you’re developing some troubling disadvantages for yourself in the long run. Your hearing could get significantly worse. You could suffer from mental decline or social isolation. You could compromise your overall health. This content will help you comprehend why you should be wearing your hearing aids.
Why Aren’t You Wearing Your Hearing Aid?
If your hearing aids are sitting unused in a nightstand drawer somewhere, you most likely have an excuse. Sure, maybe you haven’t exactly been honest about what those reasons might be. Maybe, when your family asks, you even say something generic and evasive, such as, “I just don’t like them”.
Undoubtedly, though, there’s more to the story than that. If you go a little deeper, you’ll likely find that there’s a particular grievance at the heart of your infrequent hearing aid use. And there’s also a very exact solution to your problem.
The following are some of the most frequent issues;
“My Hearing Aids Aren’t Comfortable”
Discomfort is one of the most commonly cited grounds for people not using their hearing aids. Sometimes, the hearing aid won’t stop falling out of your ear. Or perhaps your over-the-ear model chafes in just the wrong spot, causing pain and tenderness.
It’s not supposed to be uncomfortable to wear hearing aids, so something is surely wrong if they are causing any sort of discomfort. And frustration, pain and soreness are not things you would want from any piece of technology.
Possible solution: If you’re uncomfortable with your hearing aids, a follow-up fitting session is something you should consider. A few slight tweaks may be all your hearing aid needs. Some designs can even be entirely personalized to the shape and size of your ears. The more comfortable your hearing aid is, the more likely you are to leave the device 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 use them very often. If that’s the situation, it’s not shocking that you’ve opted to store your hearing aids in a drawer somewhere and save them for “special occasions”.”
This fuzzy or tinny sound can happen because hearing aids are performing complicated auditory functions at all times, filtering out some sounds while trying to amplify others. So the sound quality may seem hard to rely on if your settings aren’t correctly tweaked.
Solution: There are two possible solutions to this issue: upkeep and calibration. Your hearing aids could be broken in some way or another and need to be
repaired. But it might be possible that they just need a simple calibration (generally this is something your hearing specialist can do for you).
Voices Seem Muffled With my Hearing Aids
You want to hear voices clearly. When you first got hearing aids that was the whole reason! You wanted to be certain you didn’t miss out on any important discussions. So it might be a little bit discouraging if all the voices you hear when your wearing you’re hearing aid are muffled or difficult to comprehend.
Because your brain and ears aren’t communicating effectively anymore, this issue normally happens when you first get your hearing aids.
The Solution: Keep practicing. Understanding conversations is something your brain will need to become accustomed to, so putting yourself in a position to hear people conversing regularly will be helpful. Try reading along with an audiobook or reading along with the closed captioning while watching NCIS. Merely having more conversations with the people around you is a very good way to get some practice, as well.
Finding Answers
The point is that no matter what your reason for not using your hearing aids might, there’s a solution somewhere. And it is imperative, both for the health of your hearing and for your cognitive well-being, that you wear your hearing aids routinely.
So if you’re not using your hearing aids? After identifying the issue, find a solution, so you can help your hearing aids, and all that they help you hear, part of your daily life. If you think your hearing aids require adjustment, contact your hearing care specialist as soon as possible.