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The following tips can help you adjust to your new hearing aids and get the most out of every listening experience.

Start Wearing Your Hearing Aids

Your hearing care professional will advise you on how long each day to wear your hearing aids during the first few weeks. During this time you will become more comfortable wearing the devices as well as putting them on and taking them off.

Give Yourself Time

Hearing aids are designed to provide you with a greater range of sounds and these new sounds may surprise and tire you at first. It's okay to take a break from conversations or noisy environments, as needed.

Adjust To Your Own Voice

It is likely that at first, your voice will sound different and this is to be expected. The more consistently you...

Choosing the right hearing aids is the beginning of the journey to hearing well again. Now that you own new hearing aids, it is time to maximize your listening experiences and rediscover the sounds you have been missing.

Although modern hearing aids are a complete communication system, it still takes first-time wearers time to adjust to their new hearing aids. Additionally, there is a lot to learn about how to use, maintain and care for your hearing aids. Consider reaching out to a family member, friend or loved one who can help you adjust to the new responsibilities of hearing aid ownership.

Most importantly, go slow, learn one thing at a time, practice and stay in contact with your hearing healthcare professional. All will take time, but...

The following provides a general idea of what to expect during a hearing evaluation.

HEALTH AND HEARING HISTORY

Your hearing care professional will collect information about your hearing and medical history.

OTOSCOPIC EXAMINATION

Your hearing care professional will examine your ears for inflammation, earwax, infection or any abnormalities.

IMMITTANCE MEASUREMENTS

The next step of the hearing evaluation may be to complete immittance testing using special equipment to evaluate the integrity of the eardrum, middle ear space and acoustic reflexes.

HEARING EVALUATION

The hearing test may be conducted in a sound treated room or booth. You will either wear headphones covering your ears or foam earphones placed in your ear canals. Your hearing care pro...

For most of your life, hearing has been effortless. You listened without thinking, conversed with ease and woke from sleep to subtle noises. Lately, things have changed. You are now asking people to repeat themselves. You realize the TV is too loud for everyone but you. Do you still wake up to the smell of coffee, but no longer hear its gentle drip?

Know you are not alone

Hearing loss affects one in three adults and is the third most common health problem in the United States. It is common for people to disregard their hearing loss for five to seven years. However, by putting off the inevitable, it will become harder to rectify the problem and take longer for you to hear well again.

If you are experiencing signs of hearing loss, it is time ...

Treating hearing loss is important, and can improve your quality of life, earnings, relationships, self-confidence and happiness. If you are considering purchasing hearing aids, you will find there are many options, brands and styles to consider. It can be easy for a first time hearing aid buyer to feel overwhelmed, but purchasing hearing aids is a personal decision and there is no single option that is best for everyone.

Your hearing care professional will help guide you through the process and find you the most appropriate, well fitting hearing aids. A comfortable fit includes the physical fit of the hearing aids in your ears, as well as how the hearing aids sound. You hearing care professional will program your new hearing aids based u...

Last November I wrote a blog about 'What are the best hearing aids?' where I talked about the 'Big Six' hearing aid manufacturers. Well, it has come to my attention that Unitron (like Phonak, it is also owned by the Sonova Group), has market shares that are on par with Widex (another major hearing aid manufacturer). For this reason I believe that Unitron should be considered one of the premier hearing aid manufacturers as well. Listed below is a re-posting of the same blog but it now adjusted to include Unitron as one of the major hearing aid manufacturers.

What are the best hearing aids?

Seems like a simple enough question but in reality it is a little more complicated than that. Most of today's hearing aids are digital and so that is wha...

The short answer is, about 20% of Americans (approximately 48 million), report some degree of hearing loss. At around age 65, one in three people have a hearing loss. About 2 to 3 out of every 1000 children are born with a detectable hearing loss in one or both ears. Almost 15% percent of school aged children (ages 6-19), have some degree of hearing loss.

Furthermore, 60% of the people with hearing loss are either in the workforce or in educational settings. In general, as the hearing loss increases, so does the reduction in compensation.

It is very important for people to understand the consequences of untreated hearing loss. Be sure to visit an Audiologist or Hearing Instrument Specialist for a hearing test if hearing loss concerns arise.

It is important to be well prepared when getting ready to travel as a hearing aid user. You should always assume that wherever you are going you will not have the necessary supplies needed to continue hearing aid use.

The following are some helpful tips for traveling hearing aid users:

1. Be sure to travel with an ample supply of batteries to make sure that you have enough batteries (and then some) to make it through your trip. For people who use chargers make sure you do not forget to take the charger with you.

2. Be sure to travel with your cleaning kit as well as extra tubing, soft domes and/or other accessories required for proper hearing aid function.

3. Be sure to travel with a cell phone that is compatible with your hearing aids.

When ...

There are many benefits to wireless technology. In this modern high tech world, we have become accustomed to mobile phones, tablets, laptops, as well as other wireless devices to keep us connected to our friends and loved ones, and hearing aids are no exception.

Some of the benefits of wireless hearing aids include:

Better Sound Quality

Wireless technology allows two hearing aids to work together rather than individually as one complete system. This allows hearing aids to better preserve the speech signal in more complicated environments.

Localization

We were born with two ears for a reason. Binaural hearing helps us locate a sound source quickly because the brain analyzes timing and level differences received from each side of the head....

Millions of Americans suffer from hearing loss. When hearing loss is gradual, as in the case of age related hearing loss people may not realize that they have lost their ability to hear as well as they used to. If you suspect that you may have had hearing loss for a while, but have not done anything about it, that is not unusual. On average, it takes people seven years from the time they think they might have a hearing loss to the time they seek treatment.

If you answer yes to some of the following questions, you may have hearing loss.

- Often ask people to repeat what they say?

- Have trouble hearing in groups?

- Think others mumble?

- Fail to hear someone talking from behind you?

- Turn up the volume on the TV or car radio?

- Have diff...