The common misconception is that our hearing aids can be worn like reading glasses and are only needed when you have conversations.
“Hearing aids don’t work this way, because your brain needs time to adjust.”
How Do They Work?
The hearing aids are initially so overwhelming because they work by amplifying sound as it enters your ears. This can seem really overwhelming, because the brain is being inundated with so many electrical signals that you haven’t been hearing for a really long time. The hearing aides need to be worn regularly in order to help build up this new ‘habit’.
“People with hearing aids have been seen to gain a better hearing and understanding of conversations.”
Research has found significant benefits for hearing aid wearers, including improving the hearing at certain frequencies. This is why it’s so important that you wear your hearing aids often if you want them to be effective!
Here are the 6 reasons on why you should wear your hearing aids often.
Ready to listen 👂🏻
Here it goes..
(1) There Is An Initial Adjustment Period
Adjusting to hearing aids is at first overwhelming as the brain cannot handle all of the sounds it had not been receiving. However, with time and a little patience you will get used to the sounds that were once so unfamiliar. Note that the hearing aids are meant to amplify sound for you, and so with the initial change, your ears and brains might not be fully used to it yet.
Your brain is being inundated with so many electrical signals, and would definitely need time to adjust.
One good tip is to start off with a lower volume, rather than taking the easy route by taking them out. If your hearing aids are overwhelming, consult with your audiologist and they can help make adjustments for you.
(2) The More You Wear, The Faster Your Brain Will Learn
The more you wear your hearing aids in the beginning, the faster you will adjust. Participating in activities such as reading aloud can increase this rate of adjustment, especially with regard to how you’ll hear your own voice when speaking.
Once you are used to hearing everything that is going on around you, your brain will slowly get acclimated to it. There may be some adjustments in volume and clarity that happen as time goes by. You’ll know when this happens because your hearing will feel more natural each day.
The hearing aids will help you hear everything that is going on around you, but only if they are worn as often as possible. Adjusting to hearing all the sounds in your environment may take some time and there may be more changes with clarity or volume.
(3) It Helps With Speech Recognition
Getting used to wearing hearing aids is a process, but the more you wear them the faster your brain will become at recognising speech and important sounds, and unimportant sounds such as: background noises would not overwhelm you as before.
If you wear your hearing aids most of the time, it can take some adapting before your brain learns to prioritise which signals to focus on. Over time, background noises are easier to ‘block out’.
(4) It Decreases Your Risk of Having A Fall
The effects of hearing loss are not just about sound. Your ears typically detect other sounds to help give you a heads up for potential dangers in your environment. For example, without the ability to hear footsteps, it is more likely that you will slip or trip over something that would normally be heard. The research shows you are 2 times more likely to have a fall without a hearing aid.
Long-term hearing loss can be an overwhelming experience, even more so for those with a hearing impairment. It is widely believed by researchers that these individuals must use their mental resources at great capacity to process conversational audibles. In this case, when we’re not wearing our hearing aids full time, we have to work harder to hear everything – using our brain resources to interpret hand gestures and body language, etc.
(5) It Decreases Your Feelings of Exhaustion
Hearing aids not only act as hearing devices, but also provide relief from your hearing impairment. A hearing loss can be overwhelming for the individual because of the mental strain and exhaustion it causes when we have to work harder to hear everything that is going on around us – interpreting body language or gestures from people in conversation, and because it requires much of our mental capacity, people with hearing loss tend to feel exhausted by the end of the day.
When we adhere to treating hearing loss, wear our hearing aids constantly, and have sufficient rest we are lessening the cognitive load on our brains, and thus wearing a hearing aid can actually help to increase one’s energy levels overall.
(6) It Reduces Your Risk of Cognitive Decline
The longterm effects of hearing loss can be devastating. Hearing aids will help reduce the cognitive decline associated with hearing loss and improve your quality of life!
Hearing loss is associated with cognitive decline. The brain is under-stimulated when there are hearing problems which leads to a lower level of processing information.
When hearing loss is untreated, studies have shown that there would be a 30 – 40% of loss in brain matter in areas associated with speech, hearing language and memory.
Fortunately, frequent use of hearing aids has recently been shown to be capable of reversing the damage done by a lifetime of listening to common noise.
In Conclusion
There are many benefits to wearing your device all day, every day. Research has shown not only does wearing them for more than 12 hours per day have an effect on the hearing loss sufferer, but also those who care about him or her most. Treatment of hearing loss isn’t just about getting it fitted and going from there; rather it includes being diligent in wearing the hearing aids consistently.
