If you’ve been diagnosed with hearing loss, chances are hearing aids were recommended as the best treatment option. These devices can suit a wide range of hearing loss, from mild to profound, and can be customized to match your personal needs. Once you’ve selected a hearing aid, the next step is to schedule a fitting with Hearing and Ear Care Center.
Here’s a closer look at what the fitting process looks like and the steps our audiologists take to ensure you get the best possible experience from your hearing aid.
The Fitting Process
When your new hearing aid arrives, you’ll come in for an initial fitting appointment. This is an opportunity to try the device on for the first time. It’s also when your audiologist will show you how to charge or change the batteries and care for and clean the device.
Small changes can be made to the hearing aid during this first appointment if you feel there are settings that need to be adjusted right away. You’ll also get the opportunity to ask questions about your new hearing aids and discuss any concerns you might have about wearing them in the real world.
Follow-Up Adjustments
Your initial fitting is only the starting point for hearing aid comfort and sound quality. There will typically be several follow-up appointments to continue fine-tuning your hearing aid fit after you’ve gotten the chance to experience it in the real world.
Throughout the course of the fitting process, keeping a positive attitude will be essential. Studies have shown that those who think positively about their hearings tend to have a better experience while wearing these devices.
That being said, our audiologists are always happy to make adjustments to your unique needs, even if you’ve been wearing the same hearing aids for a while. We want to make you as comfortable as possible while receiving the best hearing support available.
Live Speech Mapping
Live speech mapping is a modernized technique for the hearing aid fitting process. In the past, audiologists would use beeps and noises to fit hearing devices. These didn’t replicate real-world scenarios and led to errors in the fitting process.
Live speech mapping replaces these beeps with speech. This helps your audiologist to find the best possible settings for your hearing aids so that you can achieve a perfect fit faster and start getting maximum value from your hearing devices as soon as possible.
Live speech mapping uses small microphones placed in the ear canal to measure the hearing aid’s response across different frequencies. These fitting appointments tend to be more interactive, and you’ll be asked to bring a friend or family member in to help gauge your ability to hear live voices.