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First ever hearing aid - how on earth am I going to get used to this?

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I just want to emphasize that 1 week is not nearly long enough for a trial.

If that is all this place will give you, find a different Audiologist! 30 days should be an absolute minimum. And right now with most of us staying away from group activities, that might not be enough to “try” your hearing aids for understanding speech in noise.

I have been wearing hearing aids for about 15 - 17 years and been fortunate that my hearing has held relatively stable. And I have been fortunate to connect with a new hearing aid provider locally who is letting me try demo aids for all brands. Even tho they are being set for the SAME as the ones I have worn for 5 years, it takes me a couple of weeks to adjust to a new brand - - so to go from nothing to a hearing aid will take a lot longer.

Hang in there and get your audiologist to work with you!

If you have been fitted with domes they often cause itching in the aural canal. You might find getting a custom mold made far more comfortable to wear.
Speak to your Audiologist about all your problems as you come across them.

If they only have one brand of aid for you to trial walk away and find another as you have nothing to compare that one against. Every aid sounds different, and you need to be able to trial several brands so you can choose what sound, sounds the best to you. Especially as you are paying for them.

Paul-- I didn’t read all the replies so far, and someone might have already mentioned this. Do you have any/much hair growing in your ear canal? I do, and when my aids (KS9) start to feel itchy and annoying, removing that hair makes a HUGE difference.
I have a slightly older model of this device, and it works like a champ;

https://www.amazon.com/Panasonic-Trimmer-ER430K-Cleaning-Battery-Operated/dp/B000FYVOJC/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=nose+hair+remover+panasonic&qid=1607348376&sr=8-26

In reply to @paul3

I think this is your real battle. The fact that your family would definitely say yes to you needing hearing aids suggests that dealing with your hearing impairment is a PIA for them. I know that was the case for my wife and me dealing with her hearing impaired father. Having had to deal with him was great motivation for me to wear hearing aids when my hearing started to slipping. Wearing hearing aids also makes my family more tolerant of me because they know I’m trying.
So, try to figure out why you want to hearing aids. Once you’ve got this figured out, overcoming the occasional problems will become easier.

It can take time to get used to them. For me, it’s taken a couple months to adjust to new hearing aids and even then it can take weeks to adjust to any subsequent programming tweaks. Please know it’s normal to need adjustments. It’s good to keep track of what’s working and what isn’t and keep communicating that to your provider. When I got my first pair, I truly did not know that needing to go back was actually really a thing that most patients need to do for a good fit. You may like a different dome, or receiver length, or retention tail etc. I wish this forum had been around in the late 90’s when I bought my first pair.

There used to be a product called Ear-gene that helped the annoying itch. Been many years since I used it, but it helped. I think the ha introduces something on its surface the ear doesn’t like, so it complains by itching.

There’s a product available at most pharmacy’s in the UK called Ear Calm. Mainly used for minor outer ear infections. My GP prescribed it for itchy ear.

In reply to @ricaltman

My ears itched when I first started wearing aids.
At the advice of members here I bought a hearing aid dryer that has a UV light plus circulation of warm air. This stopped almost all my ear itching. On very rare occasions I would use a QTip with rubbing alcohol to clean my ears and the domes. That along with the dryer my itching has stopped.

thanks all. Audio has given me smaller domes for now so we’ll see. An extra weeks trial…

I’ll try to see what I can buy also as some have mentioned.

I have custom fit inner ear pieces and I have occasional ear itch. Usually solved by cleaning them - I use a cotton handkerchief for the purpose.

I had to build up to wearing my first set of aids - a hour, then a couple, then half a day - this over the course of several months.

The world is a very noisy place! I find I turn my aids off (opening the battery door of the piece that sits behind my ear) if I need to concentrate. But I was never a fan of noise, so.

Good news. MUCH better with the smaller domes.

I got the audio to turn them up as well. I find it hard to put up with if its making little difference but if it helps massively then…

In reply to @Blacky

I totally agree with your words of wisdom. I got Phonak Paradise mid November and have been have problems. I got a second opinion from a different Audi. He changed the domes and made adjustments based on his hearing test. They are much better. The original Audi didn’t do after making adjustments. REM is so important. Even though I’ve worn hearing aids for 16 years, my brain needs to get used to new sounds that the new hearing aids allow you to hear.

I’m another one who watched a family member (father) deny he needed hearing aids when his poor hearing made him difficult to deal with. He claimed couldn’t help his kind of loss, and I never believed him. He was one of those who was insulted by any hint advancing age affected him like the rest of the mere mortals of the world.

So when my hearing began to be a problem, I really wanted aids. Cost kept me from getting them for a long time. Then Costco. I was delighted to finally have them. This forum kept my expectations realistic because like many I didn’t understand in the beginning they can’t just fix things and return normal hearing.

I think you get used to them when you wear them all day every day, and you do that when you realize a real personal benefit.

A family member who refuses to wear hearing aids is frustrating. It leads to having to yell at them to get them to understand and having to raise one’s voice constantly tends to affect one’s mood. Yell for awhile and one tends to feel angry.

Yeh know what you mean. My Dad has hearing aids and half the time doesnt bother to wear them and to be honest, its pointless having a conversation with him.
He also has the free NHS ones. I know they can be good but he just refuses to see about new ones and is so tight fisted he would never ever pay (even though hes minted)

Getting a bit more used to now. Not brill…

Trouble is I guess its other people get the benefit not you…Ha ha.

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