Hearing Aid Fitting
Scheduling a hearing aid fitting is a crucial step to making sure your new hearing aids work properly. Getting a snug, custom fit helps make sure that you don’t hear feedback and helps keep them from falling out.
We’ll also take this time to show you how to insert and remove your hearing aids properly, how to clean them without causing damage to the device, and how to retrain your ears to hear again.
What’s a hearing aid fitting?
Hearing aids are not just earbuds or mini-speakers. Getting a proper fitting is akin to getting a prescription for eyeglasses. Your ear is unique. What will fit and be comfortable in your ear canal all day will be different from other people. In addition, hearing aids are programmed to the exact results of your hearing test so they complement your ear’s current hearing ability.
Some types of hearing loss require specific kinds of hearing aids and may require making a mold of your ear so that it sits correctly in the canal. Even if custom molds are not necessary, getting a snug fit will help reduce feedback and issues with comfort.
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Real-ear measurement
Hearing aid manufacturers will offer recommendations on amplification based on your hearing results. But that’s all these are—recommendations. Real-ear measurement helps us determine whether the output at these recommended settings are accurate and appropriate for your ears. Since all ears are slightly different, the real output of a hearing aid may not match the expected output. With the help of a tiny microphone, we can adjust hearing aids to the proper output and volume for your ears.
Fine-tuning your hearing aid
Even when customizing the settings to your hearing profile there will be a period of adjustment with your new hearing aids. Your brain will need some time to relearn how to process sounds it hasn’t heard in a while. The worse the hearing loss, the longer this process typically takes.
The first few weeks you should practice using your hearing aids in different environments and by listening to audio recordings of books while you read the words. This will help your brain re-acquaint itself with processing sounds into words.
During this adjustment period also make note of any environments or circumstances where the hearing aid didn’t work as expected or was not comfortable. We’ll be able to help you tweak your hearing aids until they give you the sound quality and performance you’re expecting.