4 Things to Expect During Your Hearing Aid Fitting

Usually, a hearing aid fitting appointment takes between one and two hours, but it can take more or less time than that. How long your appointment takes will depend on a variety of things, from how easy to fit and tune your hearing aid is to how well you adjust to it. A hearing aid fitting should never be rushed, as there is a lot that you need to go through with your audiologist.

While hearing aids don’t tend to offer perfect hearing, what they can do is make life easier for you, and improve your quality of life living with a hearing problem. It’s important to understand that it will take some time to adjust to wearing your hearing aid, which is why attending your hearing aid fitting is so important, as this can help to make the adjustment process slightly easier.

You may feel nervous about the concept of having a hearing aid fitted because you don’t know what’s going to happen at the appointment. To help you to reduce the nerves that you feel below is a guide to four things that you can expect to happen at a hearing aid fitting.

1. Real ear measures will be taken

To check if your hearing aid is amplifying sounds properly for you, Real ear measures can work well. This specialist form of measurement allows your audiologist to determine how loud sounds are within your ear when your hearing aid is in place. The process is simple; a tiny tube is inserted into your ear with a microphone on the end of it that measures what you can actually hear.

2. Your hearing aid will be put in your ear

Next, your hearing aid will be carefully inserted into your ear, while the real ear measure is still in place. The two will be tested together to work out how loud you require sounds to be, so as to ensure that your hearing aid isn’t set too loud and hurts your ears. This can make wearing them uncomfortable and can even cause more damage to your ears, which is why testing them is so important.

3. You’ll be tested for sounds

Once you have had your hearing aids fitted, the next step is to be tested for sounds. Your audiologist will play a selection of soft and louder sounds, to ensure that your hearing aid is set to the right amplification levels. If it’s too loud, your hearing aid may hurt your ears and put you off of wearing it.

4. You’ll be taught how to use your hearing aids

As part of your hearing aid fitting, you will be taught how to use them and care for them effectively. Your hearing aid fitting is the ideal time to ask any questions that you might have about how to wear and care for your hearing aid. If there’s any questions or concerns that you have, this is the ideal time to ask.