Can You Prepare for a Hearing Aid Fitting?

If you’ve recently been diagnosed with hearing loss by your audiologist, then you’re likely going to go through a series of appointments to help you find a solution, to analyze what specific tones and pitches you struggle with and also be asked to attend a hearing aid fitting. The fitting process is to ensure that your hearing aids work correctly, are tuned properly and that they’re comfortable enough for your needs. However, attending this fitting can often be daunting. After all, realizing that you’re going to gradually lose your hearing can be a depressing thought, but the hearing aid fitting process and your hearing aids will help you cope with this journey. Thankfully, there are ways that you can prepare yourself for a hearing aid fitting and in this article, we’re going to explore how.

1. Ask a friend or family to come with you

As mentioned already, the hearing aid fitting process can be quite emotional. It will typically be the first time that you get to try on your hearing aids and the sensation you get when you’re finally able to hear again can be quite overwhelming and emotional. Having that extra support behind your back is key to helping you quickly cope and adapt to using hearing aids and your audiologist will actually recommend that you bring someone with you to ease the process and help you settle into your hearing aids.

2. Prepare some questions that you’ll ask

When you’re at the hearing aid fitting, you’ll be given the chance to ask as many questions as needed to your audiologist. This is why it’s a good idea to prepare many questions for your audiologist. Here are a couple of examples of questions you should consider asking:

• When will I have a follow-up appointment?
• What should I do if the hearing aid stops working?
• Is there an emergency contact number in case the hearing aids stop working?
• How do I clean the hearing aids without damaging them?
• What happens if I lose the hearing aids?
• Are there other accessories I can purchase such as a carrying case or spare batteries?
• What should I do if my hearing aids aren’t comfortable anymore?
• How long will my hearing aids last?

These are just a couple of example questions, but you generally want to ask about anything that you don’t understand or want to know more information about.

3. Give yourself time to adjust

Don’t expect to attend your hearing aid fitting on Friday and instantly be able to go to work with them on Monday. You need to adjust to your hearing aids and for some people, this can take several weeks or even months. As a result, you should ideally attend your hearing aid fitting at the start of a week-long holiday, or at least give yourself several days off so that you have time to adjust to your hearing aids. You’ll also want at least the whole day off to attend the fitting so that you have time to learn how to use your hearing aids.