Getting used to new hearing aids, is often
a challenging process for many people. Firstly, there is the issue of physical comfort.
It feels strange initially to have something in your ear, and although not painful, you
will be very aware of the physical feel of the hearing aids.
Like wearing new shoes though, we soon stop noticing the difference in the physical feeling.
If the hearing aids do feel uncomfortable after a time, visit the audiology department
where the earpieces can be modified. Having something in your ear, can also change
how your own voice sounds to you. Imagine speaking when putting your fingers
in both ears – your voice can sound hollow, loud and echoey.
Over time, with more use of the hearing aids, your brain will adapt so that your own voice
is not noticeably different to you anymore and will appear normal again.
Some people worry initially that they are speaking loudly when first wearing hearing
aids. If anything its likely you will be speaking
more quietly as you will be hearing your own voice better and therefore be less likely
to raise your voice. One thing that most people who are new to
hearing aids notice, is how intrusive some sounds seem initially.
These are often quiet sounds such as the fridge humming, or the clock ticking, or sharper
sounds such as paper rustling, or cutlery being moved.
With normal hearing, we actually filter out lots of sounds that we hear, so that although
if we listen for them, we can hear them... Most of the time we are not aware of them.
This is because the brain decides what information is important for us to attend to and what
can be ignored. We are all quick to respond to our own name
even when it is said quietly, or at a distance – our brain is programmed to listen for
it. In the opposite sense, everyday fairly quiet
sounds can be easily filtered out if they are familiar and deemed as non-important.
If somebody works in a room with a noisy fan, after a time, they stop hearing the fan.
Some people live near railway lines, and claim to barely notice the sound of the trains.
This is because the sound has been heard, the brain has noticed it, decided it is unimportant,
and filtered it out. The brain can only filter out familiar sounds
though, and it is typical that anyone with hearing loss, will have missed hearing the
fainter sounds around them for some time. Because hearing loss generally happens gradually,
we don’'t notice that these sounds are missing. We only become aware of them again, when using
hearing aids. Then, because the sounds are deemed as unfamiliar
again, they must be attended to, until the brain begins to filter them out.
In other words, the only way to stop noticing the quiet sounds, so much, is to wear the
hearing aids more, until those sounds become familiar and the brain starts to filter them
out again. The reason that sharp sounds can stand out
so much, is because in most cases of age related hearing loss, the higher pitched tones are
lost first. These can become quite significantly reduced
before a hearing loss is even noticed, because loss of these tones only results in a lack
of clarity, rather than overall volume. Because the sharper sounds are likely to have
been missing for longer, the brain will attend to these sounds much more, as they are less
familiar. Again, through use of the hearing aids, the
brain is able to adapt, and over time, everything will sound less sharp. Another possible problem facing new hearing
aid users, is the fact that the brain may have made changes in response to the lower
level of sound it has experienced due to the hearing loss.
Because the brain essentially notices that it is receiving less sound input, it is thought
that it makes an adjustment to compensate. Liken this to an internal volume control – when
the brain receives less sound input, it ‘turns things up’ to try to accommodate this.
The brain is slow to adapt to auditory changes, so when hearing aids are worn, this central
volume control does not immediately turn back down, it takes time to adapt. However, with
continued use of the hearing aids, it will happen and things will appear to settle down
– It’s common for people to return to audiology a few months after having hearing
aids, because they think the hearing aids have become quieter.
This is rarely the case, the brain has simply adapted to the new sound input. With use, you will start to benefit more and
more from hearing aids. As the brain becomes familiar with the new
sounds again, it starts to make better use of them.
You will get better at focussing on sounds you want to hear, and ignoring those you don’t.
Although this is sometimes limited by the damage to the auditory system, it will improve
in time. Everybody gets different results from hearing
aids in the long term, and this is based on usage time, as well as the level of hearing
loss, and the ability of the brain to successfully process and sort the sounds.
Most people find they get better benefit the more they use their hearing aids, although
if there is significant damage to the auditory system or central processing ability, there
will be limitations such as not hearing well, when there is more background noise. The general advice is to wear hearing aids
as much as possible, in order to get the maximum benefit.
This can be difficult initially, and it may be easier if wear time is built up gradually. It makes sense to keep the hearing aids in
if they are comfortable and not bothersome but otherwise, just increase your usage each
day until you are comfortable with using them all day
