Adjusting To Hearing Loss
What is Aural Rehabilitation?
Aural rehabilitation is the process of helping patients adjust to and manage his/her hearing loss. The focus is on overcoming the challenges caused by hearing loss to improve the overall hearing experience. Learn about you type of hearing loss The first stage of rehabilitation is to adjust to new hearing instruments while understanding the type of hearing loss you have. Not all hearing impairments are the same and it is important to understand what caused yours, what characterises your type of loss, and how it effects your functional hearing and communication abilities. A clear understanding of your type of hearing loss helps relieve frustrations when retraining your brain to use your hearing aids but also helps to explain the nuances of your hearing loss to family and loved ones. Improve Communication Skills Communication is more than just verbal skills. There are many pieces to the puzzle.
Retraining your Brain
Hearing aids help you hear the world around you. You will hear sounds that you have not heard in a long time, they may sound off or different to how you remembered them, at first. This is because there is a mechanical element to the amplification of a hearing aid. One example would be an echo when the hearing aid user speaks, and patients report they can hear their own voice echoing back at them. This is a short-term issue and usually passes over 24-48 hours. As your brain adjusts to the hearing aids, all sounds will become more natural.
Actions speak louder than words
Learn to use visual clues; concentrate and face people when they are speaking. We need to position ourselves in the best position to use our eyes to scan a table or a room. Learn to interpret facial expressions and gestures to give clues to aid understanding.
Lip Reading
Lip reading aids an understanding of what words and sounds look like when people speak. Its more than just reading lips, it is about trying to differentiate words that have similar mouth movements but have different meanings in certain sentences. Lip reading is an ever-evolving learning experience and can only be improved with practice. There are excellent lip-reading classes available all over the country and a skilled lip reader can significantly improve communication skills in conjunction with hearing aids.
Finding the correct position
Finding the correct place in a room, a function hall, a meeting or social gathering can help performance. Communication skills can be improved by learning what environmental settings are best for you to socialize or work in, and how to effectively manage them. I can explain how to alter the settings of your hearing aids on you hearing aid app to help you hear better in challenging environments.
How to use and make the most of your hearing aid
We will work together to choose the best hearing solution for your needs. Understanding the technology and the functionality of the hearing aids, additional background noise programmes, directional microphones and volume control can only help enable a better listening experience for you. Hearing aids will never mirror normal hearing but when used properly and managed effectively performance is enhanced in all listening environments. Having realistic expectations at the outset helps patients adjust more successfully.
Wireless Hearing aid Accessories
Technological developments provide a range of options to combat hearing loss. Accessories include handheld remote controls to adjust volume for patients who have dexterity issues and cannot feel the volume buttons on the hearing aids. The microphone portfolio named Roger, is for patients with more severe hearing loss and helps to improve conversation in background noise. Roger mics are compatible with nearly all hearing aids and cochlear implants regardless of brand. These devices are wirelessly connected to your hearing aids and the microphones scan the room to send conversation directly into you hearing aids. They are mostly designed to benefit speech understanding in excessive background noise.
