Follow-Up Appointments After Your Fitting

You can cover a lot during your hearing aid fitting, but different questions often come up once you’re back to your regular routine. Maybe you’ve worn your hearing aids through a workday, gone grocery shopping or spent an evening talking with family.

You’ve now heard how they sound in places that are familiar to you and during conversations with people you know well. That experience may bring up questions you never thought to ask while you were sitting in the office.

You may also find there are things you want to mention, even when your hearing aids are working well. A follow-up appointment gives you time to talk with an audiologist about what you’ve noticed since you started wearing them.

Why Follow-Up Visits Are Important After a Hearing Aid Fitting

A follow-up visit lets your audiologist check how your hearing aids have been working outside the office.

You can bring up anything you’ve noticed while wearing them, including how voices sound or how the devices feel after several hours. Your audiologist can review the settings and check the physical fit based on what you’ve experienced since the fitting.

These visits also document how your devices are performing over time, so future adjustments can reflect what has changed since your last appointment.

What You Can Expect at Your First Follow-Up Appointment

Your audiologist may start by checking the hearing aids and asking you to put them in as you normally would. They may run listening checks or measurements to confirm the devices are producing the programmed amount of sound.

You may also practice changing programs, using controls or handling features you haven’t tried much yet. Before you leave, your audiologist may set another follow-up date based on how long you’ve been wearing the devices.

How Your Audiologist Adjusts and Improves Your Sound Settings

Your audiologist can fine-tune individual frequencies rather than simply raising or lowering the overall volume. If certain speech sounds aren’t coming through clearly, those frequencies can be adjusted without changing everything else you hear.

They can also change how the microphones pick up sound from different directions or how the devices handle sudden louder sounds. Several settings can be changed separately, which is why hearing aid programming involves more than finding one comfortable volume.

Fixing Common Comfort and Fit Problems As Soon As Possible

Small fit problems can become distracting once you’ve worn your devices for several hours. The location and timing of the discomfort often point to what needs to be changed:

• • Soreness in one spot may mean an earmold or dome is pressing against the ear.
  • A hearing aid that works loose while talking or chewing may need a different dome, mold or retention piece.
  • Whistling that starts when the device moves can indicate that it isn’t sitting securely in the ear.
  • Tenderness behind the ear may come from the case, tubing or receiver wire rubbing against the skin.
  • A plugged feeling in the ear may be related to the dome size, earmold venting or how deeply the device sits.

Keeping Track of Your Progress

Write down where you were, what you were listening to and anything that seemed different from what you expected.

You can also note how long you wore them that day or whether an issue happened more than once. After a few weeks, you’ll have specific examples to look back on rather than trying to remember an entire stretch of listening from memory.

Knowing When to Schedule Extra Visits Between Regular Checkups

Regular checkups follow a schedule, but some changes don’t line up neatly with the next appointment. A visit may be needed if your hearing suddenly seems different or one hearing aid stops producing sound altogether.

Damage from a drop or moisture exposure is another reason to have the device checked rather than waiting several weeks. Changes to your ears, medications or hearing can also affect how the devices are programmed, so your audiologist may want to see you sooner.

Helpful Questions to Ask Your Audiologist During Follow-Up Visits

Follow-up visits are also a good time to ask about parts of your hearing aids that didn’t come up during the initial fitting. Once you’ve worn them for a while, you’ll usually have more specific questions about daily use, maintenance and what to expect:

• How often should I clean the parts that sit in or around my ears?
• Which parts will need to be replaced regularly, and how will I know when they’re worn?
• How long should my batteries or a full charge typically last with my current settings?
• Are there features in my hearing aids that I haven’t started using yet?
• What should I do if one hearing aid suddenly sounds different from the other?
• How often should my hearing be retested while I’m wearing these hearing aids?

Staying on Track with Follow-Up Care for Lasting Hearing Success

Hearing aids aren’t something you have to figure out completely during the first few weeks. With more time wearing them, you’ll become familiar with the controls you use and the sounds you hear regularly.

You’ll also have a better idea of what you want to bring up at future visits. You don’t have to wait until your next routine checkup when something comes up in between.

Your audiologist can check your hearing aids, answer questions or address changes you’ve noticed. When you’re due for a follow-up, schedule an appointment and bring along anything you’d like to discuss.