It's common to go through a range of emotions when you get your first pair of hearing aids. If you're like most people, you're thankful that you'll have the ability to hear well again, but you aren't so sure how much you like the actual hearing aids. It's normal to go through an adjustment period. Fortunately, there are a few things that you can do to make the process easier.

Limit the Amount of Time You Wear Your Hearing Aids

When you get your first pair of hearing aids, it will probably take you awhile to get used to the way they feel. But don't get discouraged. Instead, try only wearing your hearing aids for a few hours each day. Then, slowly increase the amount of time you wear your hearing aids as you begin to get used to how they feel.

Wear Your Hearing Aids in a Quiet Room

You probably aren't used to hearing faint sounds, such as a clock ticking or a car driving by your house. But when you put on your hearing aids, you'll be able to hear normal sounds again. Unfortunately, this also means that to you a lot of sounds may sound abnormally loud until you adjust to your new hearing aids. So when you first start wearing your hearing aids, sit in a quiet room and give your ears time to adjust.

Don't Play with the Volume

You shouldn't need to manually adjust the volume on your hearing aids often, which is good. You want to avoid adjusting the volume frequently because you need to rediscover sounds at a normal level. By adjusting the volume manually, you might turn the volume up too much, which could eventually damage your ears more. Remember, you shouldn't try to make your hearing aids do anything that your ears couldn't do, like hear faint sounds from a far distance. If you can hear better than you could when your hearing was normal, the volume on your hearing aids is too loud.

Listen While Reading

Listening to sound while you read the words helps your brain reconnect sounds and language. So spend some time watching TV while reading the captions or listening to an audiobook while you read it. Before long, you'll find that it's easier to understand what people are saying while you're wearing your hearing aids.

Adjusting to your new hearing aids is important, because the more you get frustrated with them the less likely you are to wear them. Fortunately, it isn't difficult to adjust to new hearing aids as long as you take your time during the process. Don't expect to love your hearing aids immediately. Instead, allow your body to adjust to noises slowly until you're comfortable with the new device. Talk with a doctor at a clinic like Jacobs Clinical Diagnostics for more information on adjusting to life with hearing aids.