Perhaps you have a hearing loss and are considering hearing aids. You certainly have questions and concerns about using hearing aids, which is normal. If you are pondering what you can expect from using hearing aids, this hearing aid journey describing one user’s personal experience with hearing aids may be of help to you.
Social Life Takes A Hit Gradually
Communication is challenging when a hearing loss is present. It begins gradually with certain sounds dropping during a conversation. As time passes, one will notice that the noises around them start to interfere with communications. Small things such as the wind blowing can lead to frustration as a non-hearing individual tries to converse with friends. The feeling of isolation in a room full of people has a huge impact. Our guy with hearing loss begins distancing himself from friends because he does not feel like another embarrassing evening of asking people to repeat themselves.
Our friend notices family and friends treating him differently as they try to avoid conversations because he can’t follow along. The phone stops ringing because he never answers it anymore. He finds himself socializing on social media pages instead of in person. Because of these difficulties, our person with hearing loss develops coping mechanisms to handle social situations such as using stock phrases to answer questions. He finally decides to have a hearing evaluation with a hearing healthcare professional who prescribes him a set of hearing aids.
Even Food Tastes Better
Our hearing aid user is two days into using his new devices, and he already senses a significant impact on his hearing as his particular hearing loss developed over 20 years before reaching a clinical diagnosis level. During the first days with new hearing aids, our user notices sound being unnaturally loud due to the brain relearning how to prioritize the sounds it has not heard in a long time. Hearing the new sounds is not only amazing but can also be tiring, and our user feels like the sounds may be overpowering. The sounds of food crunching and snapping are also unusual, and it certainly adds to the pleasure of eating. Balance and spatial awareness have dramatically improved in these first days, thanks to the hearing aids. As the weeks pass, our new hearing aid user is finding listening to be more comfortable and clearer to understand. His conversations are improving due to him no longer guessing to fill in missed words. With time and patience, he is beginning to hear everything he has missed.
Hearing Aids Are A Game Changer
Of course, with new hearing aids, there will be a few issues such as feedback and possible discomfort. The new user knows that he can follow up with his hearing healthcare professional for any needed adjustments to his hearing aids. He realizes that hearing is 20 percent of the human experience and that conversation, music, and even environmental noise is part of a typical day. Taking care of hearing is vital, so if you are experiencing problems, please take the first steps as our friend did here and get a hearing evaluation with a hearing healthcare professional today.2019-08-06 21:15:00
