Frequently Asked Questions

No. If you wear Hearing Aids, your ears will not become "dependent" on the instruments. When you remove the Hearing Aids, your hearing loss will be the same as before you inserted them.

While both Hearing Aids and eyeglasses are designed to improve one of your senses (sight or hearing), there is a difference.

The cochlea is a snail-shaped organ that is filled with fluid and 15,000 hair cells. The usual type of hearing loss is sensorineural, which means these hair cells are partially damaged. Hearing Aids don't result in completely normal hearing, because even though they make sounds louder, the louder sounds are still sent to damaged hair cells. Fitting a Hearing Aid to a sensorineural hearing loss with damaged hair cells would be like fitting eye glasses to someone with damage to the retina. Fitting a conductive hearing loss, where hair cells are intact is more like fitting glasses. While damaged hair cells cannot be replaced, Hearing Aids today greatly improve your ability to hear and can dramatically increase your quality of life.

No. Hearing Aids are not designed to block out sound.

Wearing Hearing Aids for the first time (or trying new Hearing Aids) requires that you re-learn how to hear. Today's Hearing Aids are so sophisticated and flexible that they can be adjusted to almost any hearing loss or hearing environment. Adjusting to Hearing Aids is different for everyone. Don't let a friend or family member's negative experience discourage you from improving your own hearing. Speak to your Hearing Aid Professional about any concerns that you may have and be patient and persistent.

When you first begin wearing Hearing Aids, you can expected to experience some tenderness as you adjust to a foreign object sitting behind or in your ear. However, if this soreness persists after a couple of weeks, talk to your Hearing Aid Professional. Your Hearing Aid may need to be re-made to fit you better or you could be inserting it incorrectly.

No. In fact, it is not uncommon for people who experience tinnitus to experience relief from wearing Hearing Aids.

How long your batteries will last depends on a number of factors: the length of time you wear your Hearing Aids, the size of your Hearing Aid, the type of circuit you have, the size of battery you use etc. Ask your Hearing Aid Professional about the estimated life for your batteries.

This whistling is called feedback. Check to see if your Hearing Aid is inserted incorrectly or if the volume is turned too high. If these solutions don't work, ask your Hearing Aid Professional to look for wax blocking the pathway of sound to the ear canal or if the earmold tubing or earhook need replacing or if the earmold shell is too small.

Hearing Aid Professionals usually recommend two Hearing Aids for people who have hearing loss in both ears. This is called a binaural fitting. Two Hearing Aids help to improve hearing in noise, localize sound and improve clarity and sound quality. Studies have shown that people are happier overall with their Hearing Aids when they wear one in each ear.

Several factors can affect your decision: the degree of your hearing loss, the shape of your ear, what special features you may require in the Hearing Aid, manual dexterity, cosmetic preference, listening needs, lifestyle considerations, and cost. Your Hearing Aid Professional can help you make the decision that is best for you.

How long your Hearing Aids will last depends on the style of the aid, how much you wear it, amount of earwax produced etc. On average, most Hearing Aids last four to five years before they need replacing.

The sound quality provided by Digital Hearing Aids is cleaner and crisper than most Analog Hearing Aids (think of the sound quality of a CD versus an audio cassette). Digital Hearing Aids also offer more flexibility, which means that the Hearing Aid can be more accurately programmed for your individual hearing loss.

Digital Hearing Aids that offer directional microphones, combined with noise reduction, offer very sophisticated ways of processing sound to reduce as much background noise as possible. However, the noise can not be completely eliminated by any Hearing Aid.