Which Hearing Aids to Choose?
Audiology has progressed over the years, and it is no longer simply a matter of ‘you have a hearing loss, here is something that will make things louder’.
Technology has become far more advanced, meaning that the role of an audiologist in recommending the most appropriate hearing aid for each patient has become more complex. Here is an overview of some of the things that we consider.
style
All hearing losses require certain acoustics to be created in the ear canal to get the best, most comfortable and most natural sound.
We know that certain styles of hearing aids can be problematic for some hearing losses and we want to avoid this, because don’t we all like life to be as easy as possible?
We will also consider practical things like dexterity, ease of handling, and whether a style is able to offer a feature that you would find beneficial.
technology vs lifestyle
Matching hearing aid technology with your lifestyle is important to make sure that your hearing aids can perform when you need them to, but also so that you don’t end up paying for more fancy tech than you will actually use.
We need to find out about your lifestyle (outside pandemic times) to make sure that the hearing aid we recommend will fit your needs. Some hearing aids can translate languages for you (seriously!!), others can stream music from your phone or tablet like headphones, some even have “fall detection” in that telephones loved ones if you take a tumble.
Some hearing aids are more like robots and have artificial intelligence in them automatically improving the sound quality over time based on the environments you frequent. Other hearing aids have such amazing sound quality that they will resemble almost natural hearing!
hearing test results
Your hearing test results play an important part in hearing aid selection because some hearing aids have features that are designed for specific types of hearing loss that may be beneficial to you.
This could be based on your audiogram, speech testing, speech in noise testing, or whatever testing we feel is going to give us the information we need.
hearing aid technology features
Every hearing aid manufacturer has a different approach to solving a problem, and we will use our knowledge of this to make a recommendation. We will also consider additional features such as tinnitus programs, phone connectivity and falls detection.
budget
We are very aware that hearing aids are a significant outlay. By choosing our small independent practice you aren’t just buying hearing aids but investing in your wellbeing, as well as our expertise and our combined decades of experience – we are always very appreciative of the trust our patients put in us.
We will always do our best to get the most suitable hearing aid technology for your budget.
your readiness
Sometimes your hearing can be ready for hearing aids before you are, but it’s important to say we will never force you into it. To be a successful hearing aid wearer, you have to be emotionally accepting of your hearing needs and willing to put the effort into adjusting to them. Over the years we have become quite good at picking up on the signs that someone is not quite ready, and in those cases it can often be more successful in the long run to take a little bit more time, rather than being unsuccessful and putting you off any future use.