Do I Need to Wear My Hearing Aids Daily?

Imagine you spend all your time in dark and dimly lit rooms for 7 years.

There is only one small lamp in the rooms and it is not very bright. There is no sunlight coming through the windows.

Now, imagine after 7 years of living in darkened rooms that you walk outside on a sunny day.

Can you feel the discomfort of your eyes in that sunlight?

You're probably squinting, shielding your eyes from the sun, and blinking uncontrollably. This will last for a while, after all, you've been in the dark for 7 years.

Even after your eyes finally adjust to the light, every time you step outside for the next few weeks, your eyes need some time to adjust. The longer you stay in the sunlight, the more natural the lighting becomes, and you are able to see your surroundings much clearer.

Now I want you to imagine that you haven't been hearing well for 7 years.

Then one day you get hearing aids.

The hearing aids allow you to hear even the softest hum of the air conditioner and the sound of your feet on the hardwood floor when you take a step.

These sounds are distracting and kind of annoying. You don't necessarily like hearing all those background noises so you take your hearing aids out.

But, just like your eyes needed time to adjust to the sunlight after being in the dark, your ears need time to adjust to all these sounds you are hearing much more clearly than you have for the last 7 years.

The longer you wear your hearing aids, the more normal those background sounds become. Your ears and your brain learn to adjust to them so that they fade back into the background and become a natural part of what you hear.

If you expect to hear better, especially in environments where there is background noise, you need to be consistent about wearing your hearing aids.

If you only put your hearing aids on every now and then and expect to like what you hear, it's like walking from that dark room into the sunlight and expecting to look towards the sun and see clearly.

This analogy points out that our bodies and our brains do a very good job of adjusting to new things, but it takes time.

You most likely didn't lose your hearing overnight, so why expect to hear normally with your hearing aids overnight? It is an adjustment process that will take consistency on your part.