Apart from a few exceptions, you should wear your hearing aids during all waking hours, even if you’re in a situation where you don’t feel like you need them. The only times we recommend taking out your hearing aids would be:
- Before you go to bed at night
- When taking a shower or bath
- Going for a swim at places like the Torrance-South Bay YMCA
Benefits of Wearing Hearing Aids Consistently 
- Allows your hearing to adjust better and more quickly. When you first start using hearing aids you may start experiencing noises you hadn’t heard in a while, and places with large crowds and lots of background noise might sound uncomfortably loud. The more consistently you wear your hearing aids, the quicker your ears and your brain will adjust to your new way of hearing.
- Puts less strain on your brain. Untreated hearing loss makes your brain work harder to try and decipher sound. Eventually, this can lead to problems like mental fatigue and trouble remembering conversations. It can also lead to auditory deprivation. This means your brain goes so long without being able to hear a certain sound that it loses the ability to process them. Eventually, the parts of the brain that process these sounds may shrink and atrophy due to lack of use.
- Can help slow or stop brain shrinkage. A small study found that wearing hearing aids “may reverse compensatory changes in cortical resource allocation”—in other words, negative changes in your brain may improve with consistent hearing aid use. Brain shrinkage may slow or stop, and your brain may begin to pick up on sound signals once more.
Visit Your Audiologist if You’re Having Problems
Sometimes people have trouble adjusting to their hearing aids and decide to only wear them when they feel they absolutely have to. Instead of suffering through subpar hearing, contact your audiologist if you are having issues with your device. A few simple adjustments or reprogramming may be all that’s required to improve your experience.
Hearing needs also change as time goes by, especially if you weren’t wearing your device consistently beforehand. Once your audiologist makes the needed changes or upgrades be sure to keep your hearing aids in throughout the day to maximize your hearing and get the most satisfaction from your device.
If you have additional questions or would like to schedule an appointment, please call Torrance Audiology today.