Use of telephone can present a problem. Fortunately, many hearing aid users can use the telephone well without the hearing aid. Others may have had their telephones fitted with a built-in telephone amplifier requested from the telephone company. Another type portabel telephone amplifier attachment can be carried by the user and used with whatever telephone is being used at the time.

For some people,none of the above systems work well. For this reason, some hearing aids are equipped with a telephone switch. 'Telephone for the hearing impaired' & 'Hearing aids telephone pickup function' explain the telephone coil feature in hearing aids and also provide suggestions for the use of the telephone with and without hearing aids.

What do I do if the ear piece hurts my ear?

A properly-fitted ear piece (earmold or actual hearing aid) is a very important part of the hearing aid system. If it hurts, you may not be inserting it properly, or it may need to be refitted. Discuss the problem with the dispenser who fitted the hearing aids. Do not accept an ear piece that hurts.

The hearing aids pick up noise more than they do speech.

Hearing aids amplify every sound within range of their microphones, including background noise. Such "background" noise pose what is probably the most common complaint encountered in hearing aid use. If your hearing loss occurred gradually, over time, you came to accept the void of certain background sounds. Replacing these background sounds suddenly, as with hearing aids, maybe oddly disturbing. Actually, you have merely forgotten what background noises sounded like - and how you learn to ignore some of them. You will probably be able to train your mind to block out the noise and concentrate on speech and the meaningful sounds you want to hear.

You might try to turn the hearing aid volume down. This might be of some help. This might cut down on some of the background noise levels. Fortunately, people usually speak louder when in noisy situation.

You must relearn how to listen and to sort out sounds that are important. This can be a difficult and trying process, and practice is the key to achieving success. Remember, even those who have normal hearing cannot stop background sounds. However, the ability to concentrate on sounds that are important can be relearned with practice.

If a noise continues to bother you, discuss the problem with your dispenser.

When your aids are adjusted properly, you have the best chance of separating speech you want to hear from unwanted background noise.

Some hearing aids are designed especially for people who may be distressed by sudden high-level sounds. These aids are said to provide "compression", "clipping" or "limiting". (These process differs somewhat). The maximum intensity is controlled. This has the effect of permitting higher amplification to be used to bring low-level sounds into the range where you hear them more clearly. However, in some cases, this may have the effect of making background moise more prominent.

It is also possible - although not likely - that your hearing impairment is of a type that makes it impossible for you to adjust to amplified sound. In the final analysis, there is currently no complete solution to this problem.

I can hear but I can't understand.

Two common reasons for this include: (1) The condition is often due to lack of understanding of the function of hearing aids. Recall, hearing aids function to make sounds louder, but very rarely do they make speech clearer than unamplified sound heard from a high fidelity system. This means that, even when sound is loud enough, the person may be unable to differentiate between different sounds of speech. Under these circumstances, hearing aids make sound loud enough, but the efficiency of the hearing aids are limited by the listener's inability to hear speech clearly. (2) There is slight possibility that the hearing aids are faulty and should be checked.

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Hearing Aids Consumer FAQ #3

Can I use the telephone while I'm wearing my hearing aids?

What do I do if the ear piece hurts my ear?

The hearing aids pick up noise more than they do speech.

I can hear but I can't understand.