4 Things to Expect at Your Hearing Aid Fitting

One of the most important steps to getting the most out of your hearing aid, is the hearing aid fitting that you will have. Overall, the whole process is quite a simple one, but having the right hearing health professional will help. If you’re not sure what to expect at your appointment, then here are four things to expect and be ready for, during a hearing aid fitting appointment.

Questionnaire

One of the first things that you will do in a hearing aid fitting is to go through a questionnaire. There is likely to be a self-assessment form, which is done at two points during the appointment; once at the start, and once at the end. This is to help to gauge how your hearing is doing to help the hearing health professional, and show how much your hearing improves over the process of the appointment with the hearing aids in place. There is also likely to be another questionnaire that is specific to you, to assess your lifestyle and needs, when it comes to hearing aids.

Physical fitting 

The physical fitting is a vital part of the hearing aid fitting, as this is where you will see what is comfortable, what isn’t and what you prefer with your hearing aids. Having a hearing aid that is properly fitted is so important for its functionality. By the end of the fitting you will know what fits well, so that you will want to carry on wearing them. You won’t get the full benefit of them if they are not fitted well. The position of the microphone will also be assessed, as there are different receivers on hearing aids. If the microphone is in the wrong place, then it means background noise could be picked up when it doesn’t need to be.

Guidance on how to use

One of the things that your hearing health professional will do, is to spend some time with you to teach you how to use your hearing aid devices in the correct way. Doing so will help to prolong the length of their life and mean that damage will be reduced. Your hearing health professional will talk you through some of the simple things first, which will include the basics of how they work, such as changing the volume as well as battery replacement. Your hearing health professional will also help to program the hearing aids to different settings. So, depending on your lifestyle, you can get the most out of them. 

Hearing expectations

One of the last things that will happen at a hearing aid fitting appointment is that you will talk about what is expected because of wearing hearing aids, so that expectations can be managed. Your hearing can take some time to adjust to wearing hearing aids, and hearing things at a new volume level. As such, your ears need to adapt and adjust. Being prepared with what to look out for can really help, so that you will be prepared for what will come up.