New users to hearing aids experience something of a shock when they first wear their aids. High frequency sounds such as paper crinkling, dishes rattling and cutlery chinking are very loud. Lower frequency sounds such as water running, road noise and the sound of one’s own voice are also very prominent.
At U.K. Hearing Centres we recognise that aclimatization and rehabilitation are vital elements of the process of obtaining new hearing aids and we have our own unique programme designed to gradually build up usage over the first fortnight to help new users adjust and obtain the optimum long term benefits of their hearing aids.
Any form of rehabilitation takes a plan and structure and the same applies to hearing aids. After all hearing is just about how the brain perceives electrical signals passed to it down the auditory nerve which in turn come from vibrations in atmospheric pressure travelling down the ear canal through the middle ear and into the auditory nerve ( cochlea). There really is no such thing as ‘sound’. It is a brain function entirely, therefore any changes to this require adaptation.
At Congleton, Glossop and Poynton we offer this rehabilitation plan and contact the user at the end of the plan to ascertain if any fine tuning of the aids is now required.
This is the correct way to obtain the maximum results from hearing aids and to get used to them in a methodical and comfortable way.
Lorna and Alan ( pictured) both benefited from the rehabilitation plan, Lorna says ‘ The plan really helped me to get used to having something in my ears, it was like bionic hearing at first!’