Frequently Asked Questions
Audiology Clinic Questions & Answers
Search through our commonly asked questions to see the answers.
Why do anything about a hearing loss?
There is a lot of incorrect information about hearing loss and hearing aids in the community. Hearing loss is of course invisible, affects different people in different ways and varies greatly from person to person.
There are many myths about hearing loss.
Here are a few:
Hearing loss is a normal part of aging so nothing can be done.
Hearing loss is not normal at any age but more people have hearing loss as they get older. Although a number of hearing losses can be fixed by surgery, most can’t. Instead the person will be helped with amplification (hearing aids or other listening devices like amplified telephones).
My hearing loss is not bad enough to do anything.
The degree of hearing loss and how it affects a person will depend on the persons’ circumstances. For example a mother of a young child will want to hear the tiniest sound that he or she makes. You and your audiologist, after a proper assessment, will determine if your hearing needs amplification.
A mild hearing loss doesn’t require hearing aids or other help.
Although you may think there is no real problem with your hearing, family and friends will notice that you are missing out on conversation, getting things wrong and are frustrating to communicate with. Untreated hearing loss can be associated with stress, fatigue, depression and anxiety. Long term, untreated hearing loss can lead to loss of understanding of speech by the brain.
I don’t want to have a hearing test because I might need hearing aids.
Not having a hearing test or not doing anything about your hearing problem will not make it go away. Hearing professionals report that the person who gets hearing aids before they are too deaf or too old, manage far better than those that leave doing anything about their hearing loss until they have a severe problem
Wearing a hearing aid will make me look old.
There are plenty of invisible or near invisible hearing aids available on the market and you need to talk to your audiologist about what would be the most suitable for you, your lifestyle and your type of hearing loss. Answering completely the wrong question because you have not heard correctly does not make you look young!
Will wearing a hearing aid make me deafer?
No any additional hearing loss that you get will be most probably caused by the following factors, firstly what ever hearing problems you have inherited, secondly any further noise exposure, thirdly aging and finally any progressive type ear disease.
How long will it take me to get used to a hearing aid?
It depends on the individual usually the worse your hearing is before you start wearing hearing aids the longer it will take to get used to the hearing aids. Normally a time frame of six week as a minimum is what we would expect if you haven't had hearing aids before.
