Sometimes I feel like a priest, or a bartender. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had patients confess to me that they haven’t been wearing their hearing aid(s) for a long time. I give them kudos for ‘biting the bullet’, making the appointment and confessing their ‘audiological transgressions’. But I also encourage them not to wait so long the next time! Like the old adage ‘the squeaky wheel gets the grease’, if I don’t know there is a problem I can’t address or fix it. There are many reasons for this phenomenon.
Often, folks state that the reason they haven’t come in sooner is that they are embarrassed. I’ve had patients who have lost one or both of their hearing aids, and they feel embarrassed to admit this. It’s human nature. But this can be a big problem if they don’t come in in a timely manner. All new hearing aids come with a warranty for catastrophic loss & damage. This warranty will replace lost or catastrophically damaged hearing aids. But once the warranty expires, the user has to purchase a new hearing aid(s)!
I’ve had patients who forget how to use or care for their hearing aids and it’s difficult to admit this and come in to be re-instructed. Or maybe it’s because they invested a lot of money to hear better and they’re embarrassed they haven’t followed up on problems in a timely manner. All of us feel embarrassed at one time or another. It’s human nature. But try not let these feelings get in the way of better hearing.
Another purported reason I hear is that they didn’t think anything could be done about the problem. This can be relative to the physical fit and discomfort, or the programmed settings and how the hearing aids sound subjectively.
This is often the case when someone comes to my office with hearing aids that were purchased at some other provider. I emphasize to my patients that just about anything that is “wrong” with hearing aids can be addressed-if I’m made aware of the problem. In the end, properly fit hearing aids should be easy to use, comfortable in how they feel/sound and effective-helping users to hear better in the environments they find themselves in. To be clear, hearing aids are just that, aids. They cannot ‘fix’ hearing loss. But when properly programmed, fit and cared for, they are life changing devices that dramatically improve the quality of life for their users.
