Should You Wear Hearing Aids All The Time?

You might think that if you’re home alone, perhaps reading a book, using the internet or even cleaning the house, that it wouldn’t be necessary to wear your hearing aids. Surely you only need to wear them when you actually want or need to hear something?

In reality, the truth is that you should wear your hearing aids all the time when you’re awake. This might sound strange, but there are some good reasons for doing so. Read on to find out what some of those reasons are. As ever, if you have any questions, always speak to an expert audiologist to get your answers.

It’s A Good Habit to Get Into

There is a great deal of adjustment involved in starting to use hearing aids for the first time. Although you’ll love what they can do and the difference they make in your life, remembering to wear them – especially if you have had hearing loss for a long time before consulting with an audiologist and being prescribed the best hearing aids – can be difficult. Plus, getting used to the controls and how to wear them the right way isn’t always easy.

However, if you use them as part of your regular routine, like you would be brushing your teeth or cleaning your face, you’ll quickly get used to wearing them. It will become a good habit that you put into action as soon as you wake up. When you make a good thing like wearing hearing aids into a habit, you can enjoy the benefits they bring much more.

Your Hearing Will Improve More Quickly

When you first begin using hearing aids, you may find that the difference in sound is somewhat startling. You can become aware of sounds that had previously escaped your attention. On the other hand, areas that have a lot of people and a lot of background noise could have an uncomfortable level of volume. If you wear your hearing aids on a consistent basis, your ears and brain will adapt to your new way of hearing faster and the transition will be less abrupt for you.

This is the case even if you are at home alone. There will still be sounds you can pick up and new noises to get used to. It’s very unusual for there to be no sounds at all in any home, no matter if it’s empty or full. A ticking clock, water in the pipes, the air conditioning, even simple creaks and other natural noises will all be there. The quicker you can get used to them, the better.

You Might Have Auditory Deprivation

You may recall that it took some time to adjust to wearing hearing aids and once again hearing all of the sounds around you. If you go without wearing your hearing aids for even a short while, you may start to have what is known as auditory deprivation. This essentially means you’ll have to start the acclimatization process from scratch.

This is down to how the brain works, and you may have noticed it in other ways in the past. Once you stop doing something for a while, the brain compensates for the loss or forgets how to use or do that thing altogether, depending on what it is and what areas of the brain you are using. If you stop using your hearing aids, your brain will revert back to how you heard things before and the adjustment will be harder when you start wearing them again.

It Helps Your Brain

When you have trouble hearing, your brain has to work harder to make sense of speech and sounds. This can make your mind tired and make it hard to remember conversations. In the long run, it can even make it harder to hear. This means that you haven’t heard a certain sound for so long that your brain has forgotten how to process it. If you don’t use the parts of your brain that process these sounds, they may get smaller and weaker.

Also, research has found that constantly wearing hearing aids could mean that negative changes in your brain may get better if you use hearing aids regularly. Your brain may stop shrinking or slow down, and it may start to pick up on sound signals again.

To find out more about hearings aids and why wearing them all the time is a good idea, it’s best to speak to the experts at Grusecki Audiology & Hearing Aid Services at 623-583-1737.