First Experience with Hearing Aids

The moment I stepped out of the audiologist's office I wanted to run back in. Everything was so LOUD and bright. I continued on to my car hoping that once I got inside it'd shut out some of the noise but it didn't. I could still everything outside the car. The cars driving by, people talking on the street. I finally started my car and was surprised how loud it was. Everything was new. It was like I was hearing them for the first time. I went on home and just sat in the living room wearing the hearing aids. I could hear every little sound! It was amazing and jarring at the same time. I had to keep asking my dad "what's that?" I could hear my cat in the kitchen running around, his little nails on the floor and when he went to the patio door and rustled the blinds. I could hear the hum of the refrigerator. By the time I went to bed I had a terrible headache.

But I wasn't going to give up. I put my hearing aids back in the next morning and wore them on the way to work. I tried listening to the music but because the hearing aids had smart controls it kept adjusting to the music inside the car and the sounds outside the car. What was new when I got to work was the fact that the keyboard was so LOUD. I could hear myself and everyone around me clacking away on the keyboards. It was distracting. I could hear the microwave go off in the break room and myself chewing. All the sounds and everything assaulted me at once. I was overwhelmed and had to take a break. I took the hearing aids out. I had a headache again. I didn't put them back in that day.

I ended up having to go back to the audiologist to have him adjust the volume because I think they were turned up too high. It helped but not much. I just wasn't use to hearing everything and it was going to take my brain sometime. The doctor did tell me not to wear the hearing aids at work until I got used to them. He advised that I only wear them at home in short stretches as not to overwhelm myself. I took what he said into consideration and wore them sparingly for the rest of the week.

The hearing aids weren't at all what I'd expected. I never even thought of an adjustment period. I figured I'd put them on and I'd be able to hear. Well I could hear...EVERY SINGLE THING. I hadn't even thought of that. I didn't know about the little sounds because I had never heard the little sounds. I wasn't expecting to be overwhelmed and for the hearing aids to give me a serious headache. It wasn't going the way I thought it would. I couldn't just pop them in and hear what I wanted to hear. I was starting to regret getting them. If they gave me a headache and made the world so loud what was the point of them?

Kind of what it was like the first night with my hearing aids and the next few weeks.

My Hearing Aids