What Happens at a Hearing Aid Fitting?

You’ve just found out you not only have hearing loss, but need to wear hearing aids. This news can come as a shock, especially for younger adults who don’t expect this diagnosis until much later in life. After talking things over with your audiologist, who discussed your needs and helped you choose a hearing aid that fits your needs and lifestyle, maybe you’re feeling a little more adjusted to the idea. But wait, there’s one more crucial step to ensuring you and your new hearing aids get fully acquainted – the hearing aid fitting.

This appointment will be scheduled within a few weeks of your hearing aids’ arrival, and here are the key areas it will cover:

• Adjustments
• Operational instruction
• Communication tips
• Practice
• Care instruction
• Scheduling for a follow-up

Hearing aid adjustments

Your hearing aids are factory-calibrated, but your audiologist may need to make further physical and electronic adjustments based on how they fit and works for you. With the hearing aids in place, the audiologist will feed sounds into your ears and measure how you’re actually hearing them. Other adjustments could include setting up programs based on different hearing environments.

Operational instruction

In this phase, you’ll be taught how to work all the buttons and adjustable settings on your hearing aids.  Even if your hearing aids’ settings are mostly automated, it’s important for you to understand how everything works.

Communication tips and adjustment schedule

Getting used to how hearing aids amplify sound takes some adjustment, especially when it comes to communicating. Your audiologist will help you learn how to use your hearing aids to effectively interact with your environment and those around you. You’ll also be given a schedule that suggests how long you should wear your hearing aids each day until it’s comfortable to wear them all day long.

Using your hearing aids

Hands-on experience is an important step. Your audiologist will guide you through inserting and removing your hearing aids at least a few times to make sure you’re comfortable with the process.

Hearing aid care instructions

Like any other devices with sensitive electronic components, hearing aids require careful upkeep. Your audiologist will run through daily cleaning, storage and common troubleshooting scenarios. They’ll also provide you with take-home instructions for future reference.

Scheduling the follow-up

Your hearing aid fitting is just the beginning of a long-term relationship with your audiologist. After the fitting, you’ll be scheduled for a follow-up appointment to assess how well you’re getting along with your hearing aids and make any further adjustments or changes.

As you can see, the hearing aid fitting is a vital part of engaging with your new lifestyle and making the most out of your hearing devices.