Hearing aids are designed to emphasize the sound of speech. Still, some sounds will lie outside the pitch range of speech and may sound changed and seem unfamiliar. This may make it difficult to match the correct sounds to the word meanings. It takes practice to select what you want to hear from all these strange sounds. The simple fact is that you have forgotten what words really sound like, with vowels and consonants all with their proper loudness.

You actually are not ready for normal type hearing. Your present hearing habits will have to be unlearned and that will require a little time and practice.

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To be sure, everyone wants to hear naturally. But you should not expect to hear the voices of your friends without any of the background sounds that normally exist. The fact that you gradually (and quite unconsciously), lost use of background sounds, does not mean that they were not at one time meaningful, and could be meaningful again.

Some unwanted sounds may seem excessively loud. When you had normal hearing you learned to block out or adjust to loud, unpleasant noises. You learned how to ignore traffic noises and to listen to a specific conversation. You learned how to "focus" your hearing by excluding other background sounds and echoes. Now that you wear hearing aids, you may have to learn how to do this all again.

After the initial hearing aid adjustment period

Once you have been fitted successfully with appropriate hearing aids, you will be able to function more effectively among your friends, family, acquaintances, and business associates. Once more you will be better able to listen to the music of your choice, go to sporting events and appreciate the addition of sound to sight, join conversations, be safer in traffic and in fact, rejoin the mainstream of life.

By the end of an initial adjustment period, the benefits should be, in the simplest terms, a return to a more normal life-style. For best hearing, you may at times have to turn your head a little, incline it, or make a discreet adjustment to one of the controls, which will appear as if nothing more than a natural motion.

Family and friends will find that communication is much easier.
Hearing at a distance will improve. This will both amaze and delight you because you will get the feeling that the world around you has expanded and grown larger.

As times goes by, you will continue to adjust to the experience of wearing hearing aids. Still, there may be certain sounds you find difficult to identify, or that you simply cannot hear even with your hearing aids. In some of these instances you can get extra help. There are many special devices and services available to help with the daily routine.

Talk to your hearing aid dispenser to obtain more information about their use.

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Hearing aids adjustment -Your next step

After the initial hearing aid adjustment period