- Feb 19, 2018
Getting used to your hearing aids
Some of the interesting experiences people have when using a new set or hearing aids can vary from individual to individual. Also the severity of hearing loss and the length of time you have suffered a hearing loss can affect your reaction to wearing hearing aids for the first time.
Notice how you personally react to new things like-:
- A new pair of shoes
- A new pair of glasses
Your hearing aids will require a similar breaking in period.
Initially you may be irritated as you are with other new things or you may simply be delighted from the get go and not care about any minor irritation. It is important to notice and be aware of your initial perceptions - for many it is absolute elation at the quality of hearing they may have considered permanently gone.
Your Brain
Getting your brain used to sounds again.
We know hearing loss is linked to cognitive decline.
We also know that people in certain occupations or under exposures automatically aquire listening patterns.
Actively Listen
As a hearing impaired person you may have slowly started tuning out of conversations. Your active listening skills will need some time to improve again.
Hearing still requires active listening, which means making sure you face the speaker and look right at them while they’re talking. This will help your brain reconnect the dots between sounds, vocal patterns, and nonverbal body language.
Musicians have better hearing
Musicians generally have better hearing than the non-musicians.
A study of 12 musicians compared to 12 non-musicians in a controlled environment confirmed this.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5078501/
Conclusion: The present study demonstrated that musicians do perform better than non-musicians in detecting frequency changes in quiet and noisy conditions. The ACC and onset LAEP may involve different but overlapping neural mechanisms.
One of the benefits for musicians was their ability to "extracting speech signals from background noise"
Turning the TV down
Without a doubt one of the first things you will do when you have a set of good well tuned hearing aids is you will immediately turn the TV down.
You may also delight in bird sounds.
It is recommended by some experts to watch TV with captions. This can be helpful in retraining your brain. Noticing which sounds you miss or nearly get.
Get the best sound system you can afford - or consider using wireless streaming devices.
Hearing well in your Car
One of the most difficult places to hear will be your car. Use a phone holder and wireless streaming directly to your hearing aids. This can make hearing with road noise really easy.
Modern cars allow Bluetooth streaming from your phone. They connect to the car audio system, where you can instantiate a call from your steering wheel controls. Modern car audio systems are built to enhance communication, they work perfectly with modern hearing aids.
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