Why and How Can I adjust to my hearing aid

Before we go into why and how can I adjust the hearing aid, we must first understand why we need a Hearing Aid and more importantly what are the Causes of Hearing Loss.

Why Need Of A Hearing Aid :

In simple words, a hearing aid is primarily useful in improving the hearing and speech comprehension of people who have hearing loss that results from damage to the small sensory cells in the inner ear, called hair cells. This type of hearing loss is called sensori neural hearing loss. We have many examples of people with what appears to be very mild hearing loss, struggling to comprehend, when compared with more moderate hearing loss. A lot of these can be explained by the ability to process sound, which can be affected by cognitive ability, age, health issues or other auditory related morbidities. The first thing we should all consider is having a baseline hearing test regardless of age, which can be used as a benchmark of our hearing ability through life.

Now that we understand the need of a Hearing Aids, let us shed light on Causes of Hearing Loss.

Causes Of Hearing Loss :

There is quite an exhaustive list of causes and as with many health issues, we have a mixture of some control and no control over them.

The most obvious cause is ageing but alas, we have no control over that. We are born with our full complement of hair-like cells in the cochlea, the organ responsible for hearing. The longer we live, the more of these hair cells die or are worn out and our dynamic hearing range narrows. Once we start requiring sounds to be louder below 8KHz it can be said a hearing loss is present.

Now to answer the question “How can I adjust to my hearing aid”.

Your hearing aids are designed to meet the needs of many listening situations. Whether you are trying to hear someone whisper or trying NOT to hear your grandson’s screaming, your hearing aids are designed to accommodate the most challenging listening needs – often automatically and sometimes via manual controls.

Automatic hearing aid volume control

Your hearing aids probably have built-in automatic volume control. This means that the hearing aid volume is adjusted automatically in accordance with your sound environment. Loud sounds picked up by the hearing aid are amplified less than soft sounds, and the level of amplification will always depend on your hearing loss.

Manual hearing aid volume control

Sometimes you may want to adjust your hearing aid volume yourself. Many hearing aids also have manual volume controls, which are shaped like small levers. According to Widex mechanical designer Niels Christian Damgaard Jakobsen, Widex designed these controls to be intuitive: “We use tactile switches in our new hearing aids,” says Niels. “For example, the volume and program buttons on Widex FASHION give the users a ‘click feeling’  –  so that the response they get is not only audio but also tactile, for example as a feeling in their fingers.”

We would now like to share some Tips for using manual volume control or as in this case, the basic question of “How can I adjust to my hearing aid” :

• Push the lever, or upper part of the control, upwards to gradually raise the volume.
• Push the lever, or lower part of the volume control, downwards to gradually lower the volume.
• Each time you operate the volume control, you will hear a beep – unless you have chosen to deactivate tones.
• When you raise the volume, you will hear a higher beep-tone for each step the volume is raised.
• When you lower the volume, you will hear a lower beep-tone for each step the volume is lowered.
• A steady tone will sound when the maximum or minimum volume is reached.
• NOTE: Any adjustment of the volume setting will be cancelled when your hearing aid is turned off, or if you change program.

We at Best Hearing Clinics would also like to take a step forward and share some of the Shopping tips with are esteemed readers:

The results of your hearing test will help your audiologist recommend the right kind of hearing aid, but here are some other factors to know about your purchase:

If you have severe hearing loss, you may need a larger hearing aid.

At Best Hearing Clinics, we have an array of the right kind of Hearing Aids, which will suit and meet your every requirement.