Salvaging Your Hearing With the Help of a Hearing Aid Service

When a person finally realizes that something is affecting their ability to hear, it is likely to be an issue that has been creeping up for quite some time. A visit to the ear, nose, and throat doctor should be scheduled as soon as possible and an examination with an otoscope (a special lighted lens) performed to check the ear, ear canal, and the eardrum to ensure they are clean and also free of any foreign matter or earwax buildup that may be inhibiting proper hearing. If everything appears normal then a hearing test will need to be done to determine the level of auditory loss the patient is experiencing at this point in time.

The goal of a hearing aid service is to assist the patient to move from living with a hearing loss to experiencing a hearing correction. The service provider will perform their own hearing test to determine speech intelligibility, sensory, neural and cognitive capabilities and speech processing algorithms, as well as other elements in order to measure the patient's needs and expectations from the hearing aid.

The staff at the hearing aid service company will have been extensively trained and are skilled and knowledgeable about the state of the art hearing aids they sell. Staff members will be able to fit the patient, assist with tuning the hearing device to the level best suited for each individual and teach the client about proper care and cleaning of their device: the earpiece, tubing, filter and hook. Before they leave the hearing aid service technician will check the digital, electrical, as well as the acoustical performance and make any necessary adjustments. The microphones, receiver and battery contacts will also be checked and adjusted, if necessary.

Each hearing aid is custom made for each client to ensure a perfect fit. After a thorough exam of the patient's ear canal is done and an assessment of the size and shape is determined, a foam block is inserted approximately halfway down the ear canal to get an impression. Next the canal is filled with a silicone impression material, and after 5 minutes the impression is carefully removed and the mold for the hearing aid is created.

As with any form of technology, changes and advances will occur and clients who have already made a significant investment in their equipment will wonder if the "newer" device would be worth the additional investment. A technician at a hearing aid service will allow a client to test the newer device, prior to purchasing it. Newer does not always prove to be better, but should it happen that the client does prefer the new device some companies will offer a credit for the old equipment toward the purchase.

Appointments for tune ups and consultations can be scheduled with a hearing aid service technician and some companies offer discount "package" prices for a client to come in every few months to have their equipment examined, ensuring everything will continue operating well for the patient.