How Can I Make My Hearing Aids More Comfortable?

Hearing aids are often a crucial treatment choice for individuals experiencing mild-to-severe hearing loss, helping to both prevent further deterioration and improve quality of life. Unfortunately, unfounded fears prevent many of us from contacting an audiologist and seeking this treatment, leaving us at risk of further deterioration and a range of secondary health complaints.

Alongside concerns of how hearing aids might look, worries surrounding general comfort are typically top of this list. In reality, though, while adjustment periods are often necessary, treatment from a fully trained and qualified audiologist should ensure both the best possible fit and the ongoing treatment and adjustments necessary for the highest levels of comfort possible. To make sure of this, it’s especially worth considering the following ways to make even initially uncomfortable hearing aids fit like a glove. 

Take Time Understanding Your Options

Too often, we imagine that hearing aids are a blanket solution, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. In reality, there is now a wide range of hearing aid options to suit every lifestyle, form of hearing loss and general comfort requirement. Your audiologist is the best person to talk you through these, but it might be helpful to start by considering the most common hearing aid choices and their levels of comfort as follows:

• Behind-the-ear (BTE) hearing aids: BTE hearing aids are suitable for mild-to-severe hearing loss and sit comfortably outside of the ear. 
• In-the-ear (ITE) hearing aids: ITE hearing aids are available in a range of different sizes to be worn inside the ear, filling the entire ear concha for a comfortable fit when paired with regular cleaning and low wax levels. 
• In-the-canal (ITC) hearing aids: Similar to ITE hearing aids, ITC aids sit in the lower part of the ear to fill only the canal, providing a smaller and generally more comfortable solution for individuals with mild-moderate hearing loss. 

Allow an Adjustment Period

Many people make the mistake of stopping wearing their hearing aids the second they experience initial discomfort. In reality, though, just like a new pair of shoes, hearing aids aren’t going to feel immediately comfortable for the sheer fact that you aren’t used to them yet. The good news is that this discomfort should never be painful but will instead come in the form of a simple awareness of where your hearing aid sits, how it moves and its general weightiness. 

Those feelings will never become comfortable or stop bothering you until you take the time to properly adjust to them and get used to your hearing aids in general. Best done at home or in a quiet environment to begin with, this adjustment process is a prime example of practice making perfect and will be especially effective if you wear your hearing aids for short periods that you build up over time.

As you gain more confidence, you should find that your hearing aids begin to feel so comfortable that you barely notice them, allowing you to forget that you’ve got them in until, just like that, you’re making full trips out without once reaching to readjust your device. 

Don’t Be Afraid to Book Another Appointment

Hearing aids aren’t a one-size solution, hence why professional fitting from a trained audiologist is so essential. However, don’t fall into the trap of thinking that ongoing comfort issues are something that you just have to put up with. If you find that you can’t forget about your hearing aids when they’re in, or if you’re experiencing any pain, rubbing or other issues, then it’s essential to book another appointment for a further fitting or readjustment.

Sometimes, it can take multiple appointments to ensure the best possible fit and the highest level of comfort at last. Your audiologist would far rather that you went back so that they can make sure of the best fit and provide you with all the guidance necessary to settle into your hearing aids at last. 

While true hearing aid comfort is a process, starting right with fittings from a fully trained audiologist is guaranteed to help along the way. That’s why, whether you’ve been struggling to adjust to hearing aids or have yet to take action against hearing loss, you could benefit from contacting our team at ​​Associated Specialists in Hearing Disorders & Hearing Aids at (951) 394-7112 today.