“I only need to wear my hearing aids when I go out”  is one of the worst things you can think or do for yourself once you have made the decision to wear hearing aids.

The majority of our hearing is done in the brain and not with our ears. This is why it is so important to consistently expose the brain to sound through the use of hearing aids. When hearing loss is present the brain is deprived of sound at a normal level (known as auditory deprivation). This becomes “normal hearing” to the person with hearing loss but it is not normal hearing. The brain needs to be retrained by being consistently exposed to sounds at normal levels as it once did. Some people with hearing loss feel that their hearing is fine while they are at home or that they do not need to hear while reading the paper or watching television. They feel it is not important to hear the furnace or air conditioning running, footsteps on the floor, people moving around in the house, etc. Actually, it is very important to hear these subtle sounds. As you hear more amplified sounds you build a tolerance to the louder volume levels which helps the amplified sounds seem more natural. More exposure leads to optimal performance with hearing aids. This is all done by the brain automatically without people being aware that it is happening.

Hearing loss is not only present when you go out into the noisy world. It may be more noticeable when you are in more demanding listening environments but the loss is always there. If a hearing aid wearer only wears the hearing aids occasionally, the brain has no idea what to do with all of this newly introduced noise and stimuli. This can be overwhelming and cause people to reject their hearing aids saying, “All I hear is noise”. This retraining process does not happen overnight. Be patient and give your brain a chance to adapt to all of the wonderful new sounds of life.

Content provided by TruHearing