Hearing aids are like underwear!

Hearing aids are like underwear — highly encouraged but not required. They’re good to have, useful, and should be cleaned, but sometimes you want to go commando! Much like bras — though nice to feel supported — going without a bra feels very freeing! To wear or not to wear? 

The most common question I get asked is “Do you wear your hearing aids all the time?” My unfiltered answer is “H - E - double toothpick NO!”

Wearing hearing aids is a personal choice. Some people try hearing aids and decide “Nope, I don’t like hearing aids at all.” Or they might not want to miss a single moment of their day without hearing aids and so they slap on their hearing aids first thing in the morning and it is the last thing to come off at night. Sometimes, it’s just a matter of “What do I feel like today?” My feelings on hearing aids are somewhere in the middle.

I don’t wear my hearing aids when I fall asleep. Hearing aids and water never go well together and that means no hearing aids in or near the shower, the pool, or the ocean.  If I’m reading something, I’ll probably not wear my hearing aids so I can concentrate more. One person I know calls the ability to take his hearing aids out to focus his “super power.”

If I’m taking my dog out for a walk, well I might wear hearing aids … like if I want to hear birds singing or am worried about excessive traffic, I’ll wear hearing aids. Or let’s say there’s been an unprecedented amount of rattlesnakes on a trail, then yeah, I’ll definitely wearing hearing aids! Of course, even with my hearing aids on, I can’t tell a difference between a rattlesnake’s rattle and crickets chirping, but at least I get some advance notice!  But most of the time I don’t really want to wear hearing aids when I walk, because it’s freeing for me.

Hearing aids do help a lot. They amplify some of the missing sounds. They can be very useful, especially in communicating with hearing peers. If I’m talking to someone, I’ll probably wear my hearing aids, but if I’m running and apt to get really, really sweaty, probably not. I wore my hearing aids running one time in TX, and the battery cases got rusty from the excessive humidity.  Remember when I said hearing aids and water do not mix!

I’ll always wear my hearing aids to classes or in situations where I know I will encounter trouble understanding what’s going on. If I’m meeting with friends in the dining hall, I’ll wear hearing aids. If I’m going to the dining hall by myself, wearing hearing aids depends on how I wake up that morning. Will the background noises and clattering trays make me cranky? If yes, then I will not put them in. Especially if it’s a Monday.

Throughout my childhood, my mom was told I should have the hearing aids on during all my waking hours. That might work for some people, but not for me. True, wearing hearing aids during all waking hours probably helped me get use to wearing hearing aids. Background noises, whistling winds, hair brushing against the microphone, can all be annoying sounds. Listening isn’t just about hearing the sounds, but also about focusing on lip movements, facial expressions, filling in the blanks for those sounds my hearing aids can’t amplify enough for me, and mentally converting all these inputs to something intelligible that I can work with. It is exhausting and noise is the biggest energy sucker. Sometimes I like quietude.

As hearing aid technology improves over time, I find myself wearing them more often. I do believe everyone should give hearing aids a chance, but I believe hearing aids are just that, an aid. They are not the be all, end all of listening methods. I use them when I need them. I try to keep them with me so when I do need them, I can put them on. Sometimes I forget to take them with me though and that has caused issues. Other senses help with communication, especially vision.  If I’m not wearing my hearing aids, I be sure to turn up the “volume” on visual cues, such as speech reading and using ASL. To paraphrase Hamlet, “To wear?  Or not to wear?  That is the question.”