Hi guys. Rachael Cook,
Doctor of Audiology at Applied Hearing Solutions in Phoenix, Arizona,
and in today's video I'm going to be telling you everything you need to know by
the end of one week with your new hearing aids. Coming up.
The first week with hearing aids is different for each person,
but without knowing others' experiences,
you may find yourself wondering if you are on track.
That's why I started the Everything You Need to Know series to make it easier
for you to know exactly what to expect out of each part of the hearing treatment
journey. In my last two videos,
I covered everything you need to know after your hearing evaluation,
hearing aid consultation, and your hearing aid fitting.
If you haven't seen either of those videos,
make sure you go back and watch them after this video as there's a lot of
helpful information in them. By this point,
you should have gone through your initial hearing aid fitting and began to
experience what it's like to hear better,
and in this video I'm going to cover everything you need to know after one week
of wearing your new devices. But before I do,
it would really help us out if you could give this video a thumbs up to bring
videos like these to a wider audience. And while you're at it,
if you haven't already, hit the subscribe button with notification bell.
Make sure you go ahead and do that too,
so that you never miss any one of our newly released videos.
Hearing treatment should never be a one and done process,
with most hearing aid fitting periods averaging between 30 and 60 days.
This is because hearing treatment requires adaptation and adjustment to the new
way that you hear, as well as novel information for you to learn and practice.
For this reason,
you should be following up with a hearing healthcare professional that you trust
to guide you through this process and to maximize your benefit from hearing
treatment. At Applied Hearing Solutions, we see our patients for a one week,
three week, and six week follow up each, for an hour in length,
to ensure that nothing is missed and that you are fully educated along the way.
Clinic follow-up schedules vary from practice to practice,
but should include a minimum of two follow-ups during your designated trial
period. Now,
the first week with hearing aids can be a crazy experience. Why.
Is the outside screaming? I don't like the way I sound though.
That's disappointing.
No.
How was I supposed to know that farts make.
Sound? Not only should you be hearing your friends and family much better,
but you may also be noticing that you're hearing some things a little too well,
including your footsteps on the ground, the ticking of a clock,
an air conditioner unit, or even the ice maker in your freezer.
It is important to remember that success with hearing treatment is a process,
allowing your brain to adapt to new sounds and practicing to learn how to use
your new hearing aids. Now that you have had a week to give it a go,
you should be gaining some confidence in completing some of the basics,
including telling your right hearing aid from your left,
inserting and removing the hearing aids, changing or charging your batteries,
and how to change the volume on your hearing aids after initially adjusting to
the feeling of having something in your ears.
You should know if the rubber dome or custom ear mold you are using is
comfortable. If there is any pain or discomfort,
be sure to express this to your provider at your first follow-up appointment so
that this can be addressed.
Rubber domes come in many different shapes and sizes and your provider may be
able to exchange your current dome for one of a different size that is
comfortable and still capable of treating your hearing loss well.
Custom ear molds typically come with a 90 day remake window for
modifications to get the fit and feel just right.
Hearing aid retention is also important when it comes to receiving consistent
benefit from your hearing aids.
If a rubber dome or custom ear mold doesn't stay inside of your ears without
migrating throughout the course of the day,
then a retention filament may need to be added to your ear wire using a rubber
dome or can now lock on your custom ear mold,
good physical fit and comfort of your hearing aids is a top priority,
and any physical fit concerns should be identified during your first week of
hearing aid use.
You should also be wearing your hearing aids for nearly all waking hours to give
your brain ample time to adjust to your new devices.
This means that you have had a week to experience new sounds like dialogue on
the TV, the voice of your spouse, or while at church.
You may even hear some other sounds like your footsteps on the floor,
your clothing wustling, or even your cat purring. Over time,
your brain will begin to determine which sounds are important for you to hear,
and which sounds are not as important to pay attention to.
Research suggests that fully adapting to hearing treatment takes about 30 days,
but your adaptation gets better each day. For example,
you may have found your own voice to be a bit louder at your initial fitting
appointment, but over the course of the week,
it will likely become softer and more natural to you.
If you're still having trouble adapting to certain sounds, make note of these
and be sure to bring them up at your first follow up appointment with your
hearing healthcare provider. In fact, over the first week,
you should be taking note of all of your experiences, both good and bad,
to share them with your provider at your first follow up.
In order for your provider to make the best adjustments possible,
you will need to be very specific in what it is that you are experiencing.
Sharing as many of your experiences as possible makes a huge difference in how
specifically your provider can target and address your concerns and adjust the
programming to give you the best results at your first follow up.
After approximately one week of wearing your new hearing aids,
your hearing healthcare provider should be solving any physical fit issues,
making adjustments to your programming based on your feedback and teaching you a
few new things about how to use your hearing aids. It is important to note that
each clinic has a distinct protocol for introducing different elements of care.
For this reason, let this video serve as a guide,
but know that order of operations may vary from clinic to clinic.
If any physical comfort issues are discovered,
your provider should be recommending a different dome option,
modifying your custom ear mold,
or ordering a remake of your custom ear mold from the manufacturer.
If retention issues are identified,
they should be recommending the use of a retention filament to anchor your dome
inside of your ear canal or adding a canal lock to your custom ear mold to
prevent them from slipping out of your ears.
If your data logging indicates that you've been able to tolerate the
amplification that you are sent home with without reducing the volume level,
then they may choose to increase your level of amplification closer to your
prescription. If you are reporting experiences that require adjustments to the
amplification settings or activation of different digital features,
these may be modified at this point in the programming software.
If some of the experiences you report just require a bit more time for you to be
able to adapt to them, then they should be counseling you accordingly.
After making the adjustments for comfort and sound quality,
you may begin to learn new details about the care and maintenance of your
hearing aids.
This can include how to clean the body of the hearing aid as well as how and
when to change your wax guards. If you have Bluetooth-enabled hearing aids,
you may begin the process of pairing your hearing aids to your phone and app.
Using the app to change your volume level and program settings is a great
feature that gives you more control over your hearing aid experience. However,
it is important that changes are only made when absolutely necessary,
allowing you more time to adapt to your current programming settings.
Too many app changes can make it difficult for your provider to narrow down if
what you're experiencing is due to the current programming settings or due to
the changes that you've been making on your own. At times,
this forces your provider to attempt to shoot a moving target,
so be conservative with these adjustments and be sure to document what is
working and what needs refinement.
Your provider should also review common troubleshooting methods for both the
hearing aids and Bluetooth connectivity,
allowing you to remedy any issues or concerns independently. In summary,
by the end of your first week with your new hearing aids,
here's everything you need to know.
You need to know if you are capable of easily inserting and removing your
hearing aids without assistance from others,
telling your right hearing aid from your left,
and changing or charging your batteries. You need to know if your hearing aids
are comfortable and if not, that your provider is actively addressing the issue.
You'll also need to know if you're wearing your hearing aids enough of your
waking hours and if your amplification settings are at your full prescription
and if they're not, how much closer you are to it. After adjustments,
you need to know all of the things you are hearing well,
all of the things you are hearing too much of,
and all of the things you are still not hearing well enough and what adjustments
were made to address them.
You need to know how to clean and maintain your hearing aids and if you have the
correct cleaning supplies, and if you have Bluetooth,
you need to know if you're connected to your phone for phone calls and if you're
connected to your app for app controls. And finally,
you need to know when your next follow up appointment is scheduled for.
We have covered a lot today,
but if you wanna find a hearing care professional that follows comprehensive
best practices and will take the time necessary to explain all of this
information to you, be sure to check out HearingUp.com.
HearingUp providers are committed to following comprehensive best practices to
ensure you receive the maximum amount of benefit from your hearing treatment and
will educate you along the way so you understand your entire treatment journey.
Make sure to take great notes over the next several weeks in order to make your
next follow-up appointment efficient and effective so long as you and your
provider are following these steps. You'll be hearing your best in no time.
And make sure to stay tuned for next week's episode on everything you need to
know by the end of six weeks with hearing aids.
That's it through this video. If you liked it,
be sure to give it a thumbs up and share it with someone that you think could
use it. And if you haven't already,
make sure that you hit that subscribe button with notification bell so that you
never miss anyone of our newly released videos.