For the vast majority of people, hearing loss happens gradually over a long period of time; in many cases years. So to bring it back to its optimum level, you have to accept that this too will be a process.
How long this takes will vary from person to person and there are numerous factors that will be involved, including but not limited to; the severity of the hearing loss itself, general overall health, cognitive ability, regular medications used and, most importantly in my experience, willingness to improve your hearing health.
Although not unknown, it is very unusual for me to apply the full level of amplification on day one. This is because as I said, most people’s hearing loss has taken a number of years to develop, so to receive additional volume at multiple frequencies in one fell swoop can be a lot of additional information for the brain to process, and that can be overwhelming.
For this reason, it is more usual to set the hearing aids below optimum level and allow a period of adjustment, before gradually increasing the amplification level as your hearing adapts to the new stimulus. Upon fitting you with hearing aids, I will provide you with a programme of use which is typically for the first two weeks, although this can sometimes be less in certain circumstanaces. I will then schedule a second visit at that two-week stage to assess how well you are adjusting. At that appointment, I will conduct any fine-tuning that may be appropriate and identify if further rehabilitation is required.
For many people, this is all that is required to set them on their way to hearing well again until I see them for their annual re-assessment; for others, it may be that there are additional rehabilitation visits required. Unlike some other companies, I won’t decide how many (or few!) of these visits there will be in advance – we will agree together how this process is managed, because I accept from the very beginning that I may be the expert on hearing, however you are the expert on you and I will work at your pace to reach your goal of better hearing.