Hearing aids are complex electronic devices that are designed to seamlessly provide you with the level of amplification you need depending on your environment. While these default programs work most of the time, you may find yourself in a listening situation that requires a customized setting. Below is a breakdown of when you should add personalized program to your hearing aid.
Understanding Pre-Set Hearing Aid Programs
In order to program your hearing aids, your audiologist will first have you complete a series of hearing tests to determine your exact degree of hearing loss. This tells your audiologists which sounds need extra amplification as opposed to simply raising the volume of all noises equally.
Your hearing aids come with a number of pre-set programs, which are fine-tuned by your audiologist based on the results of your hearing tests. As you move through different listening environments, such as transitioning from the Prescott Farmers Market on a busy morning to you quiet car, your hearing aid will automatically switch between programs to better suit your listening needs.
Why Customized Hearing Aid Settings Are Needed
While these pre-set programs may work most of the time, your hearing aid is just a machine and can make mistakes. There are a number of situations when you may want more control over your hearing aid settings.
Common customized hearing aid programs include:
- Wind noise reduction to limit the whipping sound wind makes against your microphone.
- Feedback suppression to eliminate whistling reverb.
- Car program to adjust the directionality of your microphone to pick up the voice of the person next to or behind you.
Another common program is one designed for listening to music. This manual program allows the user to focus on their specific situation and requires a different hearing aid setting than listening to a record at home.
If you find yourself in uncommon listening situations, talk to your audiologist. They can often create a customized program to meet your unique needs.
To learn more about programming your hearing aid or to schedule an appointment with a hearing aid expert, contact Prescott ENT today.