Getting Used to HAs

appleeater

appleeater

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Anyone have tips for getting used to wearing hearing aids?

I have moderate hearing loss in both ears, one very slightly worse than the other (I can't tell which, but I'm told not to mix my hearings aids up) and I've always had trouble wearing aids.

I've had hearing aids since I was 8 (diagnosed just before my 8th birthday) as I fooled/was ineffectively tested audiologists for years.

Over all the years, I've never got the hang of consistently wearing and for the last few years haven't worn them at all barring a handful of time. Much of this is to do with the troubles I've had with background noise. Compounded with my mental health, they became intolerable to wear - after 10 minutes I'd have a pounding headache and would run straight into walls in hope of getting rid of my distress.

I've worn them twice recently for relatively short periods of time, and ought to get back into the practice of wearing them consistently. However, 10 years down the line they're set to the lowest my audiologist was willing to set them without them being useless, lower than the set up used for people new to wearing HAs.

My hearing isn't good enough for seminars and a lecture theatre likely won't be much better. Very worried.
 
If you have ten year old hearing aids, maybe it's time to buy a new pair and try some of the new open ear technology.

You might forget you are wearing them.
 
Maybe it would be best to tackle both of your obstacles- your hearing and your mental health.
Neither are your fault but you can learn to deal with each.
Do you have a mental health professional? That would be a good place to start for that side of things. You may need to try medication but remember that depression and anxiety are just chemical imbalances in the brain. They aren't your fault and you could not have prevented them.

For the hearing aids, maybe practice wearing them in quiet (like while reading a book at home). Try to notice the sounds of the pages turning or other incidental sounds you encounter. If you get tired or anxious, take a break but only for a few minutes.
When you feel comfortable with the sounds, try something different like folding laundry or cooking dinner.
If it is too loud, back off but assure yourself that you can handle this, you just need time.

I usually don't wear my hearing aids on the weekend and every Monday when I put them back on the first half hour is scary and LOUD and a little painful. So, I put them in during my drive to work and park as far as possible from the door so that I have time to hear and get used to sounds again.

If your hearing aids have different programs, you could ask your audiologist to set a program with the volume a little closer to what you "should" have. Then you can be in control of the settings and if the "ideal" program is too loud, you can go back to what you are more comfortable with.

One thing that always freaks me out is a sound I've never heard before. I usually ask the people around me what that sound is and I feel more comfortable when I know what is making the sound.
For a while after I got my hearing aids reprogrammed (this was right after I had a sudden loss of 30 dB in one ear) I had some time home alone so I made as many noises as I could so that I could get used to how they sounded. I fan the faucet, the disposal, flushed the toilet, ran a shower, turned on the fan, knocked on the door, rang the doorbell, etc.
those sounds seemed alien to me because my "good" ear was the one that had the sudden hearing loss (went from moderately severe to profound) but I was in control of the sound and knew what was happening.
 
Thanks, I'll try those things. I've noticed that I'm not as affected by the noise as I used to be but it's very strange for me. I've been in therapy for a year and a half and am doing much better. :)

I might try to get the hang of using them as they are and then have them turned up but I'll see - I need to have the t setting changed on them as I'm getting a radio aid as they took my t-only off me for my safety. (I was told not to damage my ears with normal headphones so blocked out all other sound using t and special headphones.)

It makes me wonder how anyone can stand typing or clocks, lol. Add rain and I feel like I'm in a torture chamber. But I did manage an hour or more with a generator in the background, so there's hope for me yet, I guess.

Thanks for your suggestion and you're probably right but I don't have hearing aids that are ten years old. I've tried open ear ones before but they whistled and I was told my hearing wasn't good enough for them. Maybe they've got better since then but I doubt the NHS provides them.

NHS have been very good to me and have upgraded my hearing aids and offered me options even though I'm a poor user.

I have oticon's Spirit Zest. :)
 
appleeater said:
Thanks, I'll try those things. I've noticed that I'm not as affected by the noise as I used to be but it's very strange for me. I've been in therapy for a year and a half and am doing much better. :)

I might try to get the hang of using them as they are and then have them turned up but I'll see - I need to have the t setting changed on them as I'm getting a radio aid as they took my t-only off me for my safety. (I was told not to damage my ears with normal headphones so blocked out all other sound using t and special headphones.)

It makes me wonder how anyone can stand typing or clocks, lol. Add rain and I feel like I'm in a torture chamber. But I did manage an hour or more with a generator in the background, so there's hope for me yet, I guess.

Thanks for your suggestion and you're probably right but I don't have hearing aids that are ten years old. I've tried open ear ones before but they whistled and I was told my hearing wasn't good enough for them. Maybe they've got better since then but I doubt the NHS provides them.

NHS have been very good to me and have upgraded my hearing aids and offered me options even though I'm a poor user.

I have oticon's Spirit Zest. :)
Click to expand...

Oticon Spirit Zest I believe are the latest. If they are silver then they are def the latest ones. If they are beige then they are old!
 
Yep. They're silver; definitely the latest. I've always been given new ones every few years from various brands, including when I changed from whatever it was before to a new open ear and then onto Spirit Zest. :)
 
Doing a bit better with the clock and have heard some new noises that I haven't yet identified - perhaps some kind of generator.

I think my wife is getting sick of hearing my updates, lol.
 
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