Hearing Aid Check
Your brand-new Hearing Aids will be ready and assembled with
appropriate wires, tubes, moulds or domes as indicated at
the Hearing aid consultation, and the model, colour and
required specs will be confirmed prior to fitting.
The Hearing aids will then be tried on your ears to check for
comfort and best fit and to see if any changes are needed.
Incorrect parameters can impact both the comfort and sound
quality of a hearing device.
Feedback Test
As your Hearing Aids are brand new, we need to first
calibrate them. This is to ensure any feedback is taken care
of which can otherwise result in hearing whistling sounds.
Fitting
The Hearing aids are now ready for fitting, and this will be
done using one of the fitting prescriptions based on your
latest Audiogram.
Verification – Real Ear Measures
Certain practitioners skip Real ear measurements to save
time. Using real-ear measurements, it is feasible to
objectively verify the accuracy and usefulness of a hearing
aid fitting. Because each of us has a unique ear canal
shape, the way sounds reach the eardrum varies. Rather than
making assumptions about the “real” amount of sound, we
evaluate and measure the amount of sound that reaches the
eardrum.
Validation – Sound and Comfort Check
Based on the prescribed fitting the sound quality, clarity,
loudness, and balance will be checked objectively and
adjusted to ensure comfort and clarity. In other words,
Validation of hearing aids which is a subjective measure
that captures the hearing aid user’s perceived benefit,
satisfaction, and handicap reduction by the use of hearing
aids. At the follow-up appointment, the hearing aids are
further validated using both Aided and Unaided Speech Tests
to demonstrate the improvement achieved with amplification.
Hearing Aid Management
As our goal is not to overwhelm you with information, we
begin by covering the fundamentals and then advance to more
specific material. Typically, for initial fits, we want to
allow adequate time to practise proper Hearing Aid insertion
and removal, as well as battery/charging (if applicable) and
basic maintenance. Additionally, our 60-day unlimited
follow-up period gives you ample time and opportunities to
develop into a confident user.
Realistic Expectations and Strategies
As hearing aids are merely a tool for assisting you in
hearing better and cannot restore your hearing to normal,
there will always be some limitations, and we must have
realistic expectations along with appropriate strategies for
assisting hearing aids in assisting you in hearing better in
challenging situations. This is covered at the hearing aid
consultation when establishing your COSI goals (Client
oriented scale of improvement) which helps in selecting the
right technology level and helps in programming of hearing
aids at fitting with an intention to achieve these goals.
The goals need to be SMART that is Specific, Measurable,
Achievable, Realistic and Timely.
This is also revisited at follow up appointments to score the
perceived benefit.
Advice and Counselling
Hearing is very complex, and our environment is always
changing hence we need to allow time for your brain to
acclimatise and adapt to various settings, new sounds,
sounds that you have been missing. Hence, we advise for you
to be patient, consistent, and not to over-challenge
yourself. It is better to wear hearing aids for 4 hours a
day everyday rather than wearing them for 12hrs every other
day.
Next Steps
Now that your hearing aids have been properly configured,
it’s time to put them to the test in the real world.
Following your fitting, a follow-up visit will be scheduled
within 2-3 weeks. It is important to attend this appointment
as at this session, you will be able to share your
experiences with your new hearing device(s) and based on
your feedback your Clinician will be able to finetune your
hearing aids and make any necessary adjustments to suit your
needs.
