What to Expect as a First Time Hearing Aid User

Being fit with new hearing aids can be both wonderful and overwhelming. Everyday sounds might sound a bit different because you haven’t been hearing them as they should be for so long. Sounds such as the water running, the HVAC system turning on/off and birds chirping can all sound new to you. It takes time and patience to adapt to hearing sound in a new way. In general, the longer you have had your hearing loss, the longer it might take to adapt to hearing properly with hearing aids.

For some individuals, fitting hearing aids to target thresholds is not ideal for a first fit, as the corrected sound becomes so overwhelming to the point that the user might not wear the hearing aids. Be sure to speak with your audiologist about any comfort level concerns you might have, as they will need to be adjusted to your subjective listening preferences initially (not the prescription target). Overtime, you can increase the gain to move closer to your targets, but as a first-time user the goal is to have improved hearing and speech clarity while not overwhelming you.