Audiologist Insider: Part Two – So you’ve started wearing hearing aids?

Welcome! My name’s Matt Frost and I’m one of the audiologists here at Harley Street Hearing. This is the second blog in a series about transitioning into the world of hearing aids. So, whether you have recently started wearing hearing aids for the first time, or have recently upgraded your technology to new devices, I hope you find this helpful.  If you’re not yet wearing hearing aids, but are considering if they could help you, then head back to the first blog here.

When I first started wearing hearing aids at the age of 17, I remember the world around me sounded very ‘robotic’. When fitting one of my recent patients with their hearing aids, they initially described their devices as sounding ‘dalek-y’. Thankfully, hearing aids will not be looking to “exterminate!” anything anytime soon, instead, they’re trying to do the exact opposite – give you access to a world of sound, which was otherwise inaccessible before. I wonder what the world has sounded like to you over the first few days/weeks/months of wearing your devices, and what has changed during that period.  

You’re probably thinking to yourself, ‘gosh that doesn’t sound good at all!’, however, as an audiologist, these kinds of initial reflections are a very positive sign. They mean that your brain is receiving more auditory information than it was doing before. All we need to do now is help train your brain to this new sound-world. 

Thought 1: Acclimatisation is key

Now your hearing aids are in your ears, we begin a process called acclimatisation. I described in the first article of this series how people can think that hearing aids are like glasses – you put them on and, “wahey!” you can see.  However, the reality is quite different. 

In most instances of hearing change, it has been a gradual, almost unnoticeable decline, occurring over many years. Often, it’s those around us who are the first to identify our hearing difficulties, because until that point this has been the only way that we’ve heard the world.

Considering this, if you were to be given all the amplification your hearing needs straight away, it can be quite overwhelming for the brain and difficult to get used to. Put simply, the brain needs time and training in order to adapt. I often describe this as pieces of a jigsaw puzzle: 

“One piece of the jigsaw is your hearing as it has been. I’m providing another piece of the jigsaw for you today, in the shape of your hearing aids, which will be providing you with more auditory information than you’re used to. However, your brain will need time to help pull together those pieces of the jigsaw and build the bigger picture. If we don’t act in a gradual and kind way to the brain, then it will have a harder time learning how to process that new information.”

At Harley Street Hearing, you will be seen roughly two weeks after your initial fitting appointment for your first follow-up. This provides the opportunity for your audiologist to receive feedback from your initial ‘real world’ experiences and make specific adjustments to your hearing aids; tailor-made to suit your lifestyle, your needs and any concerns you may have. 

Importantly, the best thing you can do to help your brain acclimatise (and to get the best results from the hearing aids), is to wear them every day. The more training you give your brain, even in simple listening environments, the better your results will be in those louder, more difficult, listening situations.

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Thought 2:  Don’t be alarmed!

When you first leave the practice with your hearing aids in, the world will sound quite different.  Cutlery clinking might sound sharper and more metallic, taps running may sound like Niagara Falls.  The Grandfather clock you had forgotten about in the corner of the room suddenly makes this ticking noise you hadn’t noticed before…

Thinking back through humanity’s evolutionary past, where the sound of a twig snapping could be the difference between life and death, our ears have evolved to alert the brain to ‘new’ sounds. Therefore, when we introduce new aural stimulation to the brain by means of a hearing aid, the brain naturally prioritises these ‘unusual’ sounds. The best thing you can do is continue to live your life exactly as you were before.  Acknowledge this exciting new sound world and then let those sounds melt away, so that your brain does not continually prioritise aural information that is not of importance to you. Over the course of about two weeks’ consistently wearing the hearing aids, the brain will have begun acclimatising to this new information, allowing us at Harley Street Hearing to guide you further along your journey of aural rehabilitation. 

Thought 3: Keep a sound diary

Something that is really helpful for clinicians, but also for you as a tool to help you monitor your thoughts, is to keep a sound diary. Any information about your listening experience that feels of importance to you is exactly what we at Harley Street Hearing want to know.  When there’s so much new aural information for your brain to process in those first couple of weeks, it can be difficult to keep track of everything you notice about the sounds around you.

A sound diary will allow you to keep track of your acclimatisation journey, to provide your audiologist with the means to address your concerns, and build on all the positives you have experienced. 

Enjoy this article? You might be interested in some of our others:

If you have any hearing concerns, have hearing aids which aren’t working well for you or would like to trial new hearing aid technology don’t hesitate to call or e-mail, we will be delighted to see you at any of our locations across London.