How to Use Your New Hearing Aid

Your satisfaction and success in using hearing aids are influenced by many factors. Your age, the severity of hearing loss and your acceptance and motivation for using the hearing aid all contribute to how well and how quickly you adjust. There's no magic formula. It just takes practice and patience. Don't expect perfection and accept even small successes as signs of your progress.

Learning How to Use Your New Hearing Aid

The following are some practice exercises to gain the most benefit from your new hearing aid.

1. First, use the hearing aid in your own home environment.

2. Initially, wear the hearing aid only as long as you are comfortable with it.

3. Get accustomed to the hearing aid by listening to just one other person.

4. Do not strain to catch every word.

5. Do not be discouraged by the interference of background noises.

6. Practice locating the source of sound by listening only (using no visual cues).

7. Gradually increase your tolerance for loud sounds.

8. Learn to discriminate between words that sound similar (good, wood).

9. Listen to something read aloud.

10. Gradually increase the number of persons with whom you talk to while wearing the aids.

11. Gradually increase the number of situations where you are wearing hearing aids.

12. Take part in an organized course in speech reading.

13. Practice using the telephone while wearing your hearing aid. If this proves to be too difficult, there are assistive devices that can help.

Ultimately, you should be able to wear your hearing aid comfortably all day, every day.

For more information about your hearing, hearing assistance and conservation, call the Camino Medical Group Audiology Department at 650-934-7900.
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