Many people with hearing loss first notice they are asking their friends and family to repeat more frequently, or they feel everyone around them is mumbling. Getting your hearing evaluated is the first step to treatment. Your Hearing Instrument Specialist will test your hearing to help determine if you have hearing loss and if you can benefit from amplification.

Hearing aids can make understanding speech much easier. However, they do not restore the natural functioning of your ear.

The life of a hearing aid is about five to six years. It is important to have regular appointments to ensure your hearing aid is functioning and programmed properly. Hearing aids also come with different warranties, typically two to three years, covering repair and loss replacement. Many hearing aids are still functioning well after seven years, while others may need re-programming, repair, or replacement.

Hearing aids can have rechargeable batteries (lithium ion) or use disposable batteries (zinc air). Rechargeable hearing aids come with a charger that plugs into an outlet or USB for patients to charge their hearing aids overnight. If you chose a model that uses disposable batteries, the batteries can be purchased at most pharmacies and grocery stores as well as online retailers, such as Amazon.

This depends on the type of battery and how many hours per day you wear your hearing aid. Smaller hearing aid batteries need replacing within 3 to 7 days, while larger batteries may last 10 days.

Here’s why two hearing aids can be better than one:

Better hearing in a noisy environment:

Research has shown that speech understanding in noisy environments is optimized when the brain receives sound input from both ears.

Improved ability to localize sounds:

The brain uses the sound input from both ears to help determine the direction of the sound source. Having a hearing aid in only one ear can alter this sense of direction making it more difficult to localize sound.