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What to Expect at Your Hearing Aid Fitting
What to Expect at Your Hearing Aid Fitting
A successful hearing aid fitting is more than just selecting the correct device for your hearing needs. The hearing aids need to be properly fitted to your ears so that they provide the correct amount of amplification to maximize hearing aid benefit.
Prior to fitting the hearing aids, your audiologist will conduct a thorough hearing test to measure the softest sound you can hear at different pitches and record the volume of sound that is uncomfortably loud for you. Based on these tests, your audiologist will know how much gain the hearing aid needs to provide in order to amplify soft sounds so they are audible and how much to compress loud sounds so that they are not uncomfortable.
Different styles of hearing aids, levels of technology, and cost will all be discussed at your Hearing Aid Evaluation appointment. Your various listening environments and expectations of hearing aids will also be discussed. Your audiologist will discuss different features available in hearing aids and make recommendations based on your hearing evaluation and communication needs. You will select the hearing aids you want to order. Earmold impressions will be taken of your ears (if necessary) to order the hearing aids. About two weeks after you order the hearing aids, you will return for the hearing aid fitting.
At the hearing aid fitting appointment, your audiologist will verify that the hearing aids are providing the correct amount of amplification by doing Real Ear Measures. Real Ear Measures allow the audiologist to know how loud sounds are in your ear canal. First, a thin tube will be inserted into your ear canal. This tube is connected to a microphone that will measure the volume of sound near your eardrum without any hearing aid device in your ear.
Next, your hearing aid will be inserted in your ear taking care not to move the probe tube microphone already in your ear canal. Once the hearing aid is turned on, your audiologist will measure how loud the sound is at the output of your hearing aid in your ear. It is important for your audiologist to play different volumes of sound from soft to very loud in order to verify that soft sounds are amplified so you can hear them, that moderate-intensity sounds are amplified to a comfortable listening level, and that loud sounds are considered loud, but do not exceed your discomfort level.
Proper verification of your hearing aid settings is integral to a successful hearing aid fitting. If these measures are not completed, then the audiologist will not know whether your hearing aids are programmed properly. Real Ear Measures ensure that you are getting the appropriate amount of amplification in accordance with the severity of your hearing loss. Once the hearing aids are programmed, your audiologist will then review the care and maintenance of the hearing aids. Tasks, like inserting the hearing aids and changing the batteries, will be practiced in the office.
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@imallers . Fl. Mary when you find a farm count me in . I,d love to forget about the world and go to that farm with you. Linda ,
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1 Reaction@lioness
And I wouldnt have to struggle every day to understand people with my hearing loss....just me and my assistant goat herders...bleat bleat
FL Mary.
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1 Reaction@imallers We would have to take our stack of wine with us do goats like wine?
Well, I'm ahead of you on the farm business, except that this is a little piece of old-growth spruce forest, complete with a resident deer herd, a herd of about 40 elk that visit often (they live on the nearby golf course, a constant problem for the groundskeepers), a resident heron, and all sorts of birds, from eagles and goshawks down to songbirds and hummers. Part of the house is almost a hundred years old, with additions tacked on over the years--a typical coast house back when they were built as rooms were needed, foundations not considered very important! As much as I loved my late father, sometimes I curse the way he did things, like hanging a door so that it opens into the room instead of against the side wall. I often wish I had a "real" house, but wouldn't give up the wildlife for anything. Every day, there's at least one animal that surprises or pleases me. Deer often come up to the big window in my office and fog the glass, begging for me to come out with apple slices. We use more than 20# of sunflower seed a week for bird feeders, and I always have real sugar on hand to make juice for all the hummingbird feeders. There was just a chickadee in the seed feeder stuck to the window just above my head, and a hummer held position near their feeder, which means I need to go make juice. I bought this place 58 years ago, halfsies with my parents, so there's lots of history here, too. When cell phones were new, I was disappointed that we have no reception...but, now, I like not being tied to a phone all the time, as I was before we moved here full time six years ago. No goats, though!
@lioness @joyces
I’m moving my reply to the Just Want To Talk thread because we all love to chat and topics get “off thread” .
FL Mary
Ooops, how do I find the reply you moved? i.e. find that thread you moved to? You are making me think some of my comments may belong there...
barbb, if you replied to either imallears' post or the one I just did, you've arrived!
@barbb
If you still have the Mayo Daily Digest showing on your email...go down to Just Want To Talk and click on the discussion about Going off the Topic. Otherwise you can find all the Groups on the home page and then just choose the discussion you want to join.
It helps to put @ before the name of the person you want to reply to so that shows it up in their email.
FL Mary
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2 Reactions@barbb It's in Just want to talk . I followed your post to reply to and it went here as Fl. Mary posted here
Thanks for your very helpful reply!