You completed your hearing test, chose a hearing aid style that you liked and waited for the hearing aid to arrive from the manufacturer. What’s next? Your hearing aids have been delivered, and your audiologist has scheduled a hearing aid fitting appointment. Here’s what you can expect to happen at this appointment.
How Long Will the Fitting Appointment Last?
Hearing aid fittings are a highly personalized part of the hearing aid journey. They involve trying on your hearing aids and making adjustments, as well as providing care information and time for questions and answers. Plan for your appointment to take one to two hours. You will be heavily involved during this time, as well, so make sure you’re ready for a full, engaging day.
Step One: Initial Programming and Fitting
When you arrive, your audiologist will calibrate your new hearing aids in accordance with your audiogram from your initial hearing test to match your specific hearing needs. Then comes the exciting part: trying them on. Your audiologist will insert your hearing aids into your ears to check the physical fit and ensure they are comfortable to wear. They may need to adjust the earpiece and tubing to get a snug, secure fit. Speak up if you feel any pressure points or irritation—that discomfort will probably not go away with more use, so fix it now.
Step Two: Real Ear Measurement
After confirming the physical fit, it’s time to test the sound fit. Real ear measurement confirms that your hearing aid settings provide sounds at the correct amplification. Your audiologist will gently insert a small microphone into your ear canal, then place your hearing aids into your ears. They’ll play some test sounds, using the microphone to measure the volume of sound being projected into your ear. This should be painless, maybe even tickle a little. This test is critical to ensuring your hearing aids deliver sound as they should. If the microphone picks up anything that sounds off, your audiologist will adjust the programming accordingly.
At this point, you can request custom hearing programs, such as for listening to music or for noisy work environments. Everyone has different needs, and if you have a situation in your everyday life that might require specialized hearing settings, now is a great time to set that up with your audiologist.
Step Three: Guidance and Education
This part of the appointment involves a lot of information, so come prepared with a notebook, note-taking app on your phone and/or a family member or friend to help you retain information. You and your audiologist will go over:
- Device management, including how to work the controls, how to insert your hearing aids into your ear and take them out, how to charge the battery or change the batteries (depending on whether you got rechargeable hearing aids or not) and basic cleaning and maintenance instructions.
- Technology features and accessories, such as using a hearing aid app, pairing with Bluetooth®, and accessing telecoil services.
- Settings adjustment, from how to switch settings to how to build your own personalized listening programs.
After the Appointment
Congratulations, you get to leave the appointment with your brand-new hearing aids! This step is exciting, but for many it can also be overwhelming. You’ll be hearing a lot of sounds that you haven’t been hearing, so it may take time for your brain to adjust to this change in information. Conversations and everyday noise might sound unbearably loud, or you may have trouble relearning to ignore small sounds, like the sound of your own breath or footsteps. Adjusting takes time.
Wear your hearing aids for a few hours the first day, then try to increase the amount of time you wear them every day after, building up until you wear them all day. Keep notes about your hearing: what you can hear well, what situations were challenging and why, feedback issues, etc.
Follow-Up Appointment
Your audiologist will schedule a follow-up appointment two to four weeks after the initial fitting appointment. At that appointment, you’ll discuss how well you’re adapting to your new hearing aids and discuss any adjustments that might be necessary (this is where those notes mentioned above will come in handy).
Kampsen Hearing is excited for you, and we’re honored to be a part of your hearing journey. Call us today for more information or to book an appointment.