Hearing Device Selection & Fitting
Once a hearing evaluation has been completed treatment options will be discussed. If it is determined that hearing aids are the best course of treatment, you and your audiologist will work together to determine which hearing device will best suit your hearing loss and lifestyle.
Hearing Device Selection
1. Review Hearing Device Options:
Technology Levels:
Premium Level Hearing Aids
High demand on your hearing - group situations with noise
Moderate Level Hearing Aids
Moderately complex listening situations - Moderate levels of noise, mostly one-on-one conversations.
Basic Level Hearing Aids
Appropriate for mostly quiet environments
Essential Level Hearing Aids
Very minimal features to help in background noise.
2. Choose the hearing aid style:
This decision will depend on the degree and type of hearing loss, patient's vision and dexterity abilities, and patient's lifestyle needs. Your audiologist will help you decide which style will work best for you.
3. Take Measurements and/or Impressions:
Depending on the hearing aid style chosen, impressions of the ear may need to be taken. This will be done for custom hearing aids or earmolds.
Measurements are taken to determine speaker length for Receiver-in-the-Ear hearing aids.
Hearing Device Fitting
Once your hearing device is delivered to our office if will be programmed to your specific hearing loss.
When you return for your hearing aid fitting the hearing aid(s) will be placed in your ears to check the fit. The sound settings of the hearing aid(s) will be checked and verified using a combination of your personal preference and Real Ear Measures. Real Ear Measurements are performed by inserting a small tube with the hearing aid into the ear canal. An auditory stimulus is presented, usually a speech passage, all you have to do is listen quietly while the computer measures how much sound is reaching your eardrum. Depending on the situation further testing may be completed in the sound booth.
You will be instructed and practice inserting and removing the hearing aid(s) from you ear(s), changing the batteries, and cleaning the hearing aid(s).
A 1 to 2 week follow-up appointment will be scheduled.
The follow-up appointment is a good time to tell your audiologist the good, the bad, and the ugly. Hearing aids usually are not perfect after the first appointment. Everyone's hearing loss affects them differently, their listening needs, expectations, and environments are so different, therefore, adjustments are usually needed during the first couple months after the initial fitting. Also, most of the time the hearing loss was acquired gradually over many years, so bringing all the sounds back up to perceivable levels can be a shock to the system. In these cases the hearing aids are usually programmed below the prescription for comfort and gradually increased over time.
If for any reason you would like to return the hearing aid(s), you have 30 days from the purchase date to do so (this is required by the state of Pennsylvania).
After the adjustment period it is best to return every 6 months to have your ears checked for wax and your hearing aids cleaned and checked.
What to expect after your Hearing Device Fitting?
There is always an adjustment period with hearing aids, whether it is your first time wearing hearing aids or you've been wearing hearing aids for 5+ years. During this adjustment period things will sound different or strange. Faint background sounds will stand out to you, such as your refrigerator turning on, turn signal clicking, or your dog's toenails clicking as they walk across the floor. As you adjust to hearing these sounds, by wearing your hearing aids all day everyday, these sounds will fall to the background again. Also things may sound tinny, this is the high frequencies (clarity) being heard. If you have had a high frequency hearing loss for many years these are foreign sounds to your brain so things may sound sharp, hissy, or tinny. This will sound natural as you adjust to hearing these frequencies again.