Signs You are Wearing an Ill-fitting Hearing Aid

Wearing hearing aids can provide a wealth of quality-of-life benefits, which is why they’re one of the most frequent forms of treatment recommended for hearing loss. They’re designed to improve your range of hearing, but a lot of people also experience increased confidence, better relationships with the people around them and general communication improvements, too. However, those can be compromised if you’re wearing a hearing aid that’s not properly fit or programmed to your personal needs. Here, we’re going to look at the signs that you might be wearing a hearing aid with an improper fit.

How Comfortable is Your Hearing Aid?

While wearing a hearing aid can take some adjusting to if you have never worn something in your ear, but it shouldn’t hurt or cause any discomfort to your ear. This will typically only happen if there’s already an injury or infection affecting your ear, if the hearing aid has been inserted incorrectly or if the hearing aid wasn’t fitted. These issues usually only occur if you have tried to order a device off of the internet and haven’t had it measured, programmed and fitted by an audiologist.

Are There Any Issues with the Volume?

Do you have trouble hearing the output from your hearing aid? Given that it’s designed specifically to improve your hearing health, this definitely should be an issue. It might arise because the audio output, the amplifier, isn’t close enough to the opening of the inner ear, which will typically only happen if the hearing aid isn’t fitting properly. Of course, there are other malfunctions that may cause the hearing aid to be low on volume, but you should visit your audiologist to get to the bottom of whatever it might be.

You are Hearing Strange Beeping, Clicking or Other Noises

When first wearing a hearing aid, there can be some surprise at the noises that you are now able to hear, such as the hum of the fridge or bird song from the outside. However, if you are hearing a continuous whistle, chirp, or any other noise that doesn’t have a clear source to it, this may be due to feedback.

Feedback happens due to positional errors, where the mic picks up on the sound from the amplifier, which re-captures it, re-amplifies it and creates a feedback loop that results in that whistling noise. An ill-fitting hearing aid is the most common cause of this problem.

Do You Find Yourself Having to Frequently Readjust the Device in Your Ear?

While not every hearing aid is going to stay perfectly in place if you’re running, jumping, and climbing, they should all stay well in place during your day-to-day life. If your device is coming out of place or even falling away from your ear, then it is almost certainly not fitting your ear as it should. A fall onto a hard surface can easily damage a hearing aid, so you want to solve this issue as soon as possible.

Getting the Best Fit Possible for Your Hearing Aids

An ill-fitting hearing can cause all sorts of trouble so, naturally, you want to make sure you avoid it as best as possible. One of the mistakes that leads to it is choosing and fitting a hearing aid without the help of an audiologist. Especially when choosing in-the-ear (ITE) or in-the-canal (ITC) hearing aids, buying them online without trying them out is likely to lead to issues.

You should always consult your audiologist when making a hearing aid purchase. Aside from helping you choose the hearing aid that fits your specific needs, they can ensure it fits appropriately, too. Your audiologist will also discuss how to correctly insert and remove the device, as well as how to maintain the hearing aid technology.

What to Do if Your Hearing Aids Aren’t Fitting Properly

If your hearing aid doesn’t fit, then you should get in touch with your audiologist about it as soon as you can. We can help you find the model that better fits your ear while providing all the same benefits and providing a replacement. In other cases, we can provide a custom ear mold that is specifically built to fit your ear and have it fitted to a hearing aid.

If you’re in need of a better fitting hearing aid or you think there might be experiencing any other issues with your auditory system, give the team at Siouxland Hearing Healthcare, P.L.C.  a call today at (712) 266-3662 to learn more.