What to do

Identifying the scope of your hearing difficulties

At the first appointment your hearing care professional will ask you about your hearing and what sort of problems you are experiencing.  He or she will then measure the softest sounds you can hear using headphones placed on/in your ears.  You will hear a series of beeps of different pitches and indicate to your hearing care professional each time you hear one.  The softest sounds you can hear (your hearing thresholds) will be plotted on a chart called your audiogram. In addition to measuring your audiogram, your hearing care professional may conduct additional evaluations e.g.:

• assess your ability to understand speech in quiet and/or noise
• how well your eardrum  and middle ear  are passing incoming sound to your cochlea
• determine the loudest sounds you find comfortable
• questionnaires about situations you currently find difficult, so that you can see if hearing instruments assist you in these circumstances.

She or he will discuss the results of these tests with you and the style and technology options that would best suit your hearing loss  and your hearing needs.

Many hearing instruments are custom made to sit comfortably in your ears, which requires that impressions of your ears are made for the manufacturer of your hearing instruments to use as a template. If you choose one of these instruments your hearing care professional will take impressions of your ears.

First a small foam or cotton block on a piece of string will be placed deep in your ear canal to create a blockage, or end-point of the impression. Then some soft impression material will be inserted into your ear canal. 
After a few minutes the impression material becomes firm and both the impression and the block will be removed from your ear, to be sent away to the hearing instrument manufacturer.

Having hearing instruments fitted

Your hearing care professional will adjust the hearing instruments for your hearing loss based on your audiogram and your comments on how you find the sound.  Many instruments are adjusted using a computer and some cables connected to the hearing instruments – don’t worry, you don’t need to wear the cables at home.

Your hearing care professional will show you how to operate the hearing instruments, including inserting and removing them, adjusting the volume and/or changing the listening program.  S/he will also advise you how to look after the hearing instruments (e.g. clean them and change the batteries), and may also outline a listening program  to help you to get started.

The fine tuning process

Once you have had an opportunity to wear the hearing instruments in a variety of your everyday situations, it’s time to go back to your hearing care professional to report back on your experiences – both positive and negative.  Your hearing care professional will be happy to hear of your positive experiences and use your feedback on negative experiences to further adjust the hearing instruments.

By the end of this appointment the hearing instruments should be well set to meet your hearing and lifestyle needs.  However, should you have any further questions, your hearing care professional is there to help.