When you get your private hearing aids fitted, tested and tweaked to allow you to hear the vivid soundscapes of everyday life, your first question will likely be the same as millions of others who have had their lives changed by their hearing aids.
The question of how long you should be wearing your hearing aids is often asked for a variety of reasons. Some people immediately take to hearing aids and want to know if they can wear them all the time, whilst some need time to get used to the new range of hearing and need to know how long they have to wear them.
Ultimately, the precise answer will vary from person to person, but you should aim to wear your hearing aids as much as possible when you are awake, but whether that regular wear starts immediately or comes later will depend on your individual comfort.
From Early Days To Constant Aid
We hear not only through our ears but through our brains, and because of this, you need to wear the aids as much as possible to ensure your brain keeps focused on processing sound information.
If you do not wear them for a while, it takes some time to adjust to them, so you should keep them in as much as possible, especially when you are at home, in social settings or out and about shopping to make your life a lot easier.
If you cannot wear them all the time at first, start by wearing them for a couple of hours every day and slowly build up your usage as you get more comfortable.
When Should You Not Wear Your Hearing Aids?
It is much easier to list the times when you should avoid wearing your hearing aids, either due to potential damage to the equipment, your ears or both.
Whilst you can get waterproof hearing aids, most are not designed to get wet, so you should take them off when bathing, showering or swimming, as well as if you are applying sprays such as perfumes or sunscreen.
If they do get wet, wipe them off immediately and wrap them up until they dry. You can get dry boxes specifically designed to dry off hearing aids if they are caught in the rain, as well.
Alongside obvious risks to the electronics, try to avoid wearing them (or having them switch on at a high setting) if you are expecting to hear a lot of loud noises, such as heavy machinery, loud vehicles or garden equipment.
The loud noises are somewhat unpleasant and would be amplified more than a voice would, making them quite painful and exhausting to hear.
Finally, whilst you should wear them all day if you can, you should not wear them when you are going to sleep.
There are a few reasons why, but the biggest of these is that you might risk losing your hearing aids in the night if they fall out of your ear.
Besides, it helps to give the ears the opportunity to have air circulate through them, to avoid the buildup of earwax.
