Hearing Aid Expectations

Hearing Aids are not a cure for hearing loss. They're not even as good as glasses or contact lenses at compensating for a loss.

But, they ARE useful. You just need to have some realistic expectations.

First, if you are new to hearing aids, you are going to find that there is a major adjustment period. You must practice using them in a variety of situations.

It may be that, initially, you do not recognize many sounds for what they are. It is as if, living in a black and white world, things suddenly are in color. How do you know what green is if you've never seen it?
You also will find that there are a lot of annoying sounds out there. When I put my "ears" on, I find a lot of distractions: humming in the flourescent lights ... refrigerator motors ... crickets ... In many ways, I prefer the world without them.

Finally, you must wear the aid for it to be useful. If you are only going ot put them on for a couple of hours a day, you probably shouldn't bother.

Related to this is the question of whether you need one hearing aid, or two.

Generally speaking, unless there is some issue specific to your situation, you need to get two.
When I was fitted for my first in-the-ear model twenty years ago, it was decided that I didn't need two aids. The hearing in one ear was so bad, we were told, that a hearing aid wouldn't do anything.

To this day, I think it was bad advice. Everything I have read since then indicates that two hearing aids are necessary to get the best results.


Two aids offer fuller input -- more depth perception and directional perception. It also reduces stress and fatigue. All through high school, I would come home completely exhausted from the stress of trying to sort my way through lectures that I could barely understand.

Finally, hearing is said to deteriorate faster in an ear without stimulation. You want to stimulate both ears if at all possible.