FAQ and Education
At Quednau Hearing, education is one of our priorities. We believe every patient should feel comfortable with their hearing aids and with their understanding of hearing and hearing loss. We spend a lot of time explaining what you can expect and how to use your hearing aids. Our goal is for you to feel empowered to make educated decisions about your own hearing.
Below, we’ve gathered answers to some questions we often hear from patients. If you don’t see your question answered below, or you want more information, we are always happy to help.
Most people probably won’t even notice that you’re wearing hearing aids. They’re a lot subtler than you might think. And even if someone does realize you’re wearing hearing aids, that doesn’t mean anything about how old you are. Hearing loss can happen to anyone, at any age. Our hearing instrument specialist herself had to get a hearing aid in her 30s! Your hearing aid will allow you to understand more and take part in conversations around you, causing you to seem (and feel) younger!
Why would you want to? If hearing loss is affecting your quality of life — and that’s true for most people who come see us — then there’s no reason why you can’t start having a better experience tomorrow. If you’re pulling away from the people around you and avoiding social situations because you can’t hear or understand as well, hearing aids are a solution to give you that back.
But there’s another, arguably more important reason why you should be careful about waiting too long to get hearing aids. Your brain is part of your hearing, and when your brain doesn’t get the signal for certain sounds because you don’t hear them anymore, your brain will eventually stop being able to comprehend those sounds. It’s best to treat hearing loss as soon as you can to have the best long-term results.
It’s important to wear hearing aids all the time, even if you’re just home alone reading a book. You’re not just treating your ears; you’re also acclimating your brain to understanding the sounds around you. That’s why you should try to wear your hearing aids at least eight hours a day, even when you’re just getting used to them. This will help you get the most benefit from your hearing aids.
Sometimes, you get what you pay for. Hearing aids aren’t like reading glasses. They’re not simple devices that turn the volume up. Instead, they’re complicated computers that filter sound and address your specific, individual hearing loss. To really help you, your hearing aids need to be custom fit to you by someone experienced and knowledgeable.
Sometimes your hearing loss has progressed to a point where you’re still going to struggle to hear an individual speaker if you’re in a room with a lot of background noise. In this case, hearing aids alone might not be enough. Fortunately, there are additional devices that can help, such as remote microphones that send a signal directly to your hearing aids. Just use the remote mic to give you a little extra oomph from the individual speaker.