Tag: hear

Do Hearing Aids Come with a Guarantee?

Posted on by Andros Audiology

Do hearing aids come with any sort of guarantee? There is often a significant financial decision to make when pursuing better hearing. There are also many brands, styles, clinicians, and stores to purchase them from.  With so many options, it can be hard to know if you have chosen the right option for you.

According to www.dictionary.com, a guarantee is a promise or assurance, especially one in writing, that something is of specified quality, content, benefit, etc., or that it will perform satisfactorily for a given length of time. In the better hearing industry, you will often hear the terms “trial period” and “warranty.” Both of these things mean a guarantee.

As an audiologist, I can not guarantee that your hearing aids will meet all of your expectations. Some people expect hearing aids to restore their hearing back to “normal” and this is simply not possible. However, I can guarantee that we will do everything possible to ensure they are working at an optimal level for each individual.

Trial Period

Every ear and person is unique. What works for one person may not meet the needs of another. Simply put, somebody may need to try multiple options before they find their perfect fit. This makes the trial period important. During your trial period, it is important to work with your provider to ensure your new devices are meeting your needs. If not, you can always return the devices for a refund. Trial period length will vary by state but Minnesota requires a 45-day window.

Warranties

Manufacturing companies provide a warranty as a way to guarantee your devices stay in top working order. Warranty periods are often one to three years.

There are many safe guards in place to ensure you will achieve improved hearing, and maintain improved hearing with your new devices. If you question your progress, you should reach out to your hearing professional. Our Doctors of Audiology can be reached at (651) 888-7800.

 

“Guarantee.” Dictionary.com, Dictionary.com, www.dictionary.com/browse/guarantee?s=t.

Getting Used To A Hearing Aid

Posted on by Andros Audiology

Getting Used to a Hearing Aid

Making the decision to improve your hearing is a big step towards improving your overall quality of life. It can take time to get used to hearing aids once you receive them. Every new hearing aid user experiences an adjustment period.  Getting used to a hearing aid takes time, practice, and patience.

The brain

Your brain is the main reason it takes time to get used to a hearing aid. Do you remember the first time you drove a car? It was hard work. In the first place, we had to learn the basics of how to run the car. After that, we learned how to operate the car in traffic. With time and practice, these motions are now automatic. This is because of muscle memory. The brain creates a memory for the movement, and they become automatic. Hearing is no different. The hearing part of our brain needs to practice and thus, build memories of sounds.

Flipping on the light

Getting a hearing aid is like flipping on bright lights after sitting in the dark for a while. At first, sound might seem too loud or bright. Give yourself time to get used to all of the new sounds. The amount of time it takes to get used to a hearing aid is different for everybody. On average, four to six weeks of consistent use will allow all the new sounds to become normal. For some people, time is all it takes.

Small doses or all at once

It is generally recommended that hearing aids are worn consistently, all day, every day. You take them out at night for sleeping, and can’t wear them in the shower. For some people, this is too much in the beginning. Generally, you should try to wear them as much as possible. If needed, you can start small, and work your way up to a full time wear schedule.

When you’ve been missing out, it can be hard to know what is normal. Ask others around you what they are hearing. It is a noisy world and your brain forgets about all the little sounds around you when you have hearing loss. It takes patience, but rest assured that your brain will get used to all that sound again.

Call your hearing aid professional if you are still having troubles getting used to your hearing aids. Hearing aids are adjustable. Levels that worked for one person may not be the right levels for you. Keeping a journal helps. Writing down your experiences can help guide the fine tuning process.

Best of luck as you go out there and start exploring our noisy world with your new hearing aids!

Help! I have high frequency hearing loss.

Posted on by Andros Audiology

Two very common types of hearing loss include noise induced hearing loss and presbycusis, or age related hearing loss. Both of these are permanent in the fact that once our inner ear hair cells are damaged, we have no way in restoring their function to normal. Both conditions frequently result in something call high frequency hearing loss.

What is high frequency hearing loss?

Our ears hear a wide range of tones or frequencies. These range from low or bass tones, to high or treble tones. Often times, only part of the hearing range is damaged. For people who have high frequency hearing loss, it is not uncommon to have normal hearing for the bass or low pitch tones, but to have lost the ability to hear the high pitches. If you picture a radio that has all of the treble tuned out of it, this is what it can be like with high frequency hearing loss. You will still hear, but often times people complain of a lack of clarity.

How can high frequency hearing loss affect me?

Clarity in our hearing comes from the ability to hear high frequency sounds. We have many valuable speech sounds in the high frequency region that are important for distinguishing words. These include the “s” “f” “t” “th” sounds to name a few. Somebody who has high frequency hearing loss may hear the word “wife” and “white” the same, and this often leads to a misunderstanding. We will hear patients with high frequency hearing loss say, “I can hear the voice, I just don’t understand what they’re saying.”

Missing out on these valuable speech cues and having misunderstanding can be very frustrating. This frustration can lead to the listener giving up, or possibly isolating themselves because they don’t want to put in the extra effort to communicate.

Hearing aids can help with high frequency hearing loss

Hearing aid technology allows for the important speech information to be amplified to a point that the individual ear can use the information again. It is important that individuals don’t go too long without hearing the high frequencies because the longer the brain goes w/out hearing certain tones, the harder it is to introduce them back at a later time. Remember, the brain is a muscle, and you have to keep it exercised to keep it strong.

Take home

The first step in identifying whether or not hearing loss exists, is to visit an audiologist for a hearing test. If you think you may have hearing loss come meet with one of our Doctors of Audiology. Together we work with our medical doctors to come up with the best treatment options for your needs. Call us at 651-888-7800 to schedule an appointment.

In the meantime, here is some information about why our hearing is so important.