If you’ve recently been diagnosed with hearing loss, your audiologist likely recommended hearing aids as the best form of treatment. While it may be tempting to purchase your hearing aids online, there are several reasons this isn’t advised. From assistance selecting the right hearing aids to getting the perfect fit and programming, your audiologist is a crucial step in ensuring you get the most out of your hearing aids, starting with the hearing aid fitting.
Why are Hearing Aid Fittings Important?
1. You get the perfect fit
As its name suggests, a hearing aid fitting is where your audiologist will fit the hearing aid for you. This guarantees that you get the perfect fit and that you’re sent home with a device that’s designed specifically for your ear. As far as comfort goes, you will be unable to match the fit unless you attend this appointment.
2. Your hearing aid is programmed for you
Following on from this, your audiologist will also use this appointment to program the hearing aid for you. Not only does this mean you don’t have to try and do it yourself, but it also means you get a device that’s programmed for your specific hearing loss. Different people have different hearing loss problems, which is why we have hearing aid fittings to ensure you get a device that works properly for you.
You get to learn how to use your hearing aid
During a hearing aid fitting, you get taught how to use your hearing aid by a professional audiologist. They will take the device and show you all the buttons and features that you need to be aware of. So, when you go home, you know how to use it and get the most out of it. If you didn’t go to a hearing aid fitting, then you’d have to try and figure all this out by yourself.
You get taught about maintenance and care
Finally, you get taught how to look after a hearing aid when you go to this appointment. Again, this isn’t something you get taught if you just bought a hearing aid online. Sure, there could be instructions on the packaging, but there’s no audiologist next to you showing you what to do. At your hearing aid fitting, your audiologist shows you exactly how to clean your hearing aid, how to care for it, and what you should and shouldn’t do. They may also give you a leaflet full of maintenance instructions, so you don’t forget. As a result, you take better care of your device and ensure it doesn’t break within a few months.
As you can see, hearing aid fittings are absolutely vital. Without one, you will most probably end up paying for a hearing aid that doesn’t fit comfortably, isn’t programmed correctly and you don’t know how to use or look after. It’s always worth taking an hour or so out of your schedule to attend a hearing aid fitting where your audiologist will ensure you leave with a smile on your face and volume in your ears!
