How to use your hearing aids
A complete, all-in-one guide to getting started, settling in, and looking after your hearing aids day to day. Your audiologist shows you all of this at your fitting. This page is here for the moments you forget.
Aftercare is part of the package.
If something does not feel right, you do not have to work it out alone. Adjustments and checks are included with every fitting.
Getting started.
The basics your audiologist shows you at your fitting.
Every pair of hearing aids is colour-coded the same way, so you can always tell at a glance.
- Handle gently, over a soft surface in case you drop one
- Whistling usually means it is not sitting quite right, take it out and try again
- Turn them off when not in use to save battery
The adjustment period.
It is completely normal for sound to feel unusual, or even overwhelming, at first. Your brain has adapted to reduced hearing, and it needs time to adjust back.
A few hours a day, in quiet, familiar settings. Everyday sounds may feel surprisingly loud.
Build up to most of the day, in a wider range of places. We check in with you around the two week mark.
Fully adjusted, wearing them all day as standard. Everyone settles at their own pace, this is a guide, not a rule.
More detail in our guide to adjusting to your hearing aids.
A little care keeps them working at their best.
Or read the full care guide.
Do not just put up with it. Many issues are quick fixes, and your aftercare is included as standard, with evenings and weekends available.
Getting started questions.
What most people want to know in the first week.
They are usually marked with a small coloured dot on the body or the wire: red for right, blue for left. Your two hearing aids are programmed differently for each ear, so swapping them will not sound right.
As many as you comfortably can, and ideally all your waking hours. Your brain adjusts by being given consistent sound to work with, so wearing them only for special occasions is the slowest way to get used to them.
Because you are hearing it properly again, including through the hearing aid rather than only through your own skull. It is extremely common in the first fortnight and it settles for almost everyone. If it has not settled by your two week check-in, tell us and we will adjust it.
Yes. Take them out at night, which also gives the ear canal a chance to breathe and lets you charge them. Rechargeable models are designed to be charged overnight.
Tell us rather than putting up with it. A hearing aid that whistles, itches, feels blocked or sounds sharp is usually a fitting or a setting that needs adjusting, and that is exactly what your aftercare appointments are for.