Hearing Loss and Hearing Aids FAQ
A hearing aid is a small device placed behind or inside a person’s ear in a comfortable manner. All hearing aids have a microphone, amplifier, and a speaker. Combined, these small yet powerful parts detect sound, balance it out, and return the enriched version to your ear. Communication may finally be restored to bring confidence back to your conversations.
Most Hearing problems cannot be recovered overtime. Lucky for you, hearing aids can help improve your current hearing level almost back to its normal state. Your hair cells catch the signal from the hearing aid and send it to the brain, which perceives the sound be louder than it is.
Audiologist is a person who has the professional training and advanced education to potentially resolve your hearing concerns. They will test, evaluate, and choose the best course of action to fix your hearing loss. The last step would be to help you pick the best hearing aid that will maximize hearing and fit comfortably.Sometimes doctors wills call upon other specialist such as hearing instrument specialists or Otolaryngologists to find the best outcome for the patient.
All hearing aids amplify sound, but the electronics used may be different. The older analog hearing aids amplify sound, converting the sound waves to signals that are passed on to the inner ear.Digital hearing aids are like miniature computers, taking the sound waves and converting them into bits of information that the computer can manipulate and amplify.
These new digital hearing aids provide our hearing experts with more flexibility to custom tune the signals based on your own unique hearing loss. As a result, digital hearing aids can filter out background noise and enhance speech recognition in ways that analog models cannot.
Honestly, it depends. The right hearing aid will be selected based on the characteristics of your hearing loss, which can only be determined with an audiogram (hearing test) performed by a hearing care professional.Once we have your hearing test results in hand, we’ll know how much amplification you’ll need and which features will be beneficial to you and which won’t. For example, you may need two hearing aids if you have hearing loss in both ears, you may need telecoils if you speak on the phone a lot, and you may want completely-in-the-canal hearing aids if appearance is a concern.
Before you buy a hearing aid, ask your hearing specialist these important questions:
- What features would be most useful to me?
- What is the total cost of the hearing aid?
- Do the benefits of newer technologies outweigh the higher costs?
- Is there a trial period to test the hearing aids? (Manufacturers allow a 30- to 60-day trial period during which the hearing aids can be returned for a refund.)
- What fees are nonrefundable if the hearing aids are returned after the trial period?
- How long is the warranty?
- Can the warranty be extended?
- Does the warranty cover future maintenance and repairs?
- Can the audiologist make adjustments and provide servicing and minor repairs?
- Will loaner aids be provided when repairs are needed?
- What instruction does the hearing specialist provide?
Why should I get two hearing aids?
The benefits of better hearing are worth the effort, but you need to understand that, like anything new, it’s going to take some time and patience to get used to them. On average, most hearing aid users feel comfortable in their new hearing aids within a couple of months.You may experience some issues with discomfort, distracting background sounds, or the amplified sound of your own voice. This is normal, and problems can either be corrected by fine-tuning the hearing aids or just slowly adapting to the new sounds.
Proper maintenance and care will extend the life of your hearing aids. Make it a habit to:
- Keep hearing aids away from heat and moisture.
- Clean hearing aids as instructed. Earwax and ear drainage can damage a hearing aid.
- Avoid using hairspray or other hair care products while wearing hearing aids.
- Turn off hearing aids when they are not in use.
- Replace dead batteries immediately.
- Keep replacement batteries and small aids away from children and pets.
What are some advances in hearing aid technology?