Can a Hearing Aid Restore Hearing Completely?

Losing your hearing to any degree and at any age can happen to anyone. There can be various factors as to why this happens, but ultimately, hearing loss can restrict your ability to hear sounds and noises in everyday life. It’s important to know what you can do to help with hearing loss and to improve it where possible. But can a hearing aid restore hearing completely? The short answer is no. With practice though, wearing a hearing aid will help increase your awareness of sounds and where they’re coming from. This can certainly provide relief to those who have certain degrees of hearing loss.

How a hearing aid works

With any hearing aid, you’ll find that there are five basic elements and these are microphones, an amplifier, a battery, a loudspeaker and a computer chip. The computer chip is programmed by an audiologist to suit the wearer’s individual needs and preferences when it comes to the hearing aid. Nowadays, there are a lot of advancements that have been made to hearing aids and to such an extent that some are compatible with your smartphone.

The microphones in the hearing aid initially pick up the sound, and then those sounds are analyzed by the chip within it. These processed sounds are sent to the amplifier and then go onto the loudspeaker. Once the loudspeaker has the sound, it transmits into the inner ear to a receiver within the ear. Sounds are then transformed into electrical impulses which are picked up by the brain and processed. The wonders of science and our own human body is incredible, right?

Benefits of having a hearing aid

There are many benefits that come from having a hearing aid and if you’re in the position where you might be needing one, then it’s good to note how it can benefit any hearing loss you might have.

• Help to hear everyday sounds: Not being able to hear the doorbell ring when you’re expecting a package can be frustrating. These can often be sounds that are muffled or missed when you don’t have a hearing aid but can certainly be better heard when you have one.
• Improves ability to hear speech: Conversations can be hard to pick up on when you have certain levels of hearing loss. Asking someone to repeat a question or something they were saying during a conversation can be difficult. With a hearing aid, it can improve your ability to hear speech and conversations so that you’re not missing out.
• Gives you more enjoyment with music and television: There’s nothing quite like the enjoyment of listening to music or watching the television. When wearing a hearing aid, it can allow you to listen to said music or television at a reasonable level and one that is comfortable for anyone watching or listening with you.

Steps to getting a hearing aid

Getting a hearing aid is something that might be worth doing if you feel like your hearing has been affected or has been an issue recently. It’s important to try and visit an audiologist to get your hearing tested on a regular basis, especially if any concerns about your ear health crop up. With that being said, the steps to getting a hearing aid are pretty straight forward and are worth knowing.

Go for a hearing test

Firstly, book yourself in for an appointment. The audiologist will run the relevant tests to assess whether you do, in fact, have any hearing loss. If there is, then they can run you through the results and discuss your options.

Get your hearing aid fitted

Once you’ve picked your hearing aid device and all the parts have been ordered, next comes the fitting. This will be a great opportunity to understand how it works and how it feels initially in your ear.

Trial the hearing aid

Trialing the hearing aid is very important because it can be an opportunity to flag up any problems with the hearing aid while using it for the first week or so.

Follow up and review

And finally, the follow up and review of your hearing aid experience so far. You’ll have a feedback session with your audiologist to discuss any resolutions and amendments that need doing.

Although hearing aids don't fix hearing loss completely, they can be very helpful in bringing back some level of hearing that you may have lost. If you’re looking at getting your hearing assessed or having a hearing all, you can learn more about Advanced Hearing Services by calling us today at (970) 449-0592.