If you’re experiencing hearing loss, then wearing a hearing aid is most likely to be the recommended treatment. Your audiologist is there to help you make sure you get the best from your hearing aid. Aside from helping you choose the device best suited to your needs, this also includes helping from the moment you start on your journey with your new hearing aid. This is what the hearing aid fitting process is all about, and here are some of the reasons that it’s necessary to have your audiologist there for it.
Learning Your Own Hearing Needs
Choosing and fitting a hearing aid by yourself can lead to some pretty big mistakes, such as choosing devices that aren’t suited to your level of hearing loss or choosing devices that don’t actually fit in your ear. With an audiologist, you should already have gone through a hearing test, but it’s likely they will carry out another right before physically fitting the device.
What’s more, aside from making sure that the device fits comfortably in your ear, your audiologist will make sure the device suits your needs. Going through both your audiogram and your lifestyle such as your occupation, hobbies and living environments, they will make sure your device is programmed to suit your needs.
Learn How to Operate Your Device
Your audiologist will likely program your device for you before fitting it, making sure that it works to your needs, and you can return to them if you need it reprogrammed at any point, especially if you’re not very dexterous. However, if you prefer to learn more about your device, such as how to program it yourself, how to operate its various settings or how to access the specific features that make it a better fit for you, your audiologist will teach you about all of this during the fitting process. If you have any questions about how to use your device, the hearing aid fitting is the perfect time to ask them.
Learn How to Care for Your Device
Hearing aids are designed to be more resilient and resistant to damage than ever before. However, they are some advanced technologies, meaning that they can malfunction or lose effectiveness over time, whether it’s due to moisture buildup, earwax buildup, physical damage or other factors. As the owner, it is your responsibility to take care of your hearing aids by maintaining them, cleaning them regularly and storing them in a safe storage compartment.
Your audiologist can tell you everything that you need to know about taking care of your device, including cleaning, changing batteries, testing the device and how to protect it from moisture. Furthermore, audiologists can provide hearing aid repairs, as well. If there are any signs of damage or malfunctions, you have a good partner to take them to in order to get them back in working order.
A hearing aid fitting is a necessary first step in living with your new hearing instrument, and your audiologist is the perfect partner to help you through it.