Congratulations, you have officially taken that next step to improve the way you hear by purchasing hearing aids! Prior to wearing hearing aids, you may not have heard the beautiful sounds surrounding you, but now you are clearly hearing them. In your journey to better hearing, are you still thinking, “Now what?”

Here are some tips to keep moving forward:

• Train Your Brain: Due to the minimal number of signals your brain previously had to interpret, it gradually lost its ability to process speech and sound. Even if it feels overwhelming, it is extremely important to wear your hearing aids as long as you can each day to help familiarize your brain with the new noises surrounding you.
  

• Start Simple: After wearing your new hearing aids, sit in a quiet room and absorb the simple sounds surrounding you such as the ticking of a clock or the squeak of the floor. Introducing yourself to simple listening situations will help make all these sounds seem less overwhelming and also educate your brain to focus on the new sounds it is now interpreting. Eventually you will graduate to places with more sounds like restaurants and group gatherings.
  

• Talk to Yourself: Do you feel like you are now talking too loud? You may not have been able to clearly hear the sound of your own voice before hearing aids. Practice talking to yourself to get a feel for the correct and appropriate volume for speaking. Also try speaking to many different people to understand the varying sound patterns and volumes.
  

• Take Notes:  If you discover certain situations or noises that irritate your ears when you are wearing your new hearing aids, make sure to inform your hearing professional so you can work together to modify the hearing aid setting so it is comfortable for you.
  

• Be patient: You may feel overwhelmed by all the new sounds around you, but if you gradually continue to introduce yourself to new situations and sounds every day, you will adapt to hearing with your new aids. 
  

It is important to understand your hearing aids and how they can benefit you. If you have any follow-up questions, please do not hesitate email or call us. We are happy to help you continue on your way to better hearing! 

Communication is a two-way street. It is about interpersonal communication or the behavior of listener and speaker. The social integration. How we respond, perceive or understand each other. It has been referred by audiologists as the Communication Diet Theory.

This theory conveys information at various levels:
Level 1: Superficial level, such as greetings while passing by.
Level 2: Information sharing level, such as when we discuss the plans for the weekend.
Level 3: Meaningful information, such as thank you for the information and if you would let me share my point of view about the situation, I would like to. You are connecting on a more emotional level.

​The individual's nonverbal is as important to the communication diet as the speaking or listening tactics. We gain visual cues or body language as to what level the communication is at. Stance, eye contact and facial expressions may be giving us a different or conflicting message than the things people are saying. The intonation of one's voice provides subtle information of the intended message. We are all aware of the inside joke or the "look" people who are at Level 3 may have among one another.

When people have hearing loss, they may rely more on the visual or body language aspect rather than the auditory information, or what the speaker is saying, for the true content.

When this content has not been established at Level 2 and Level 3, miscommunication results. Anything that impedes communication, such as a speech disorder, the inability to speak the language of one's community, or a hearing loss will affect our ability to feel integrated within our community. Nowhere is this communication break down more noticeable than for those with hearing loss.

A person's ability or inability is the most critical aspect of hearing loss, and thus communication, rather than just amplification or loudness to increase the ability to hear that determines success with family, friends and their community and the social aspects of living.