Will Hearing Aids Help Me Understand Speech More Clearly?

Life in the Fraser Valley comes with plenty of places where conversation must compete with everything happening around you. A Saturday farmers’ market can get busy, hockey games fill the stands and patio lunches come with plenty of background noise.

Family dinners aren’t always quiet either. If voices have become harder to follow in those settings, you may wonder whether hearing aids would improve the conversation or simply turn up everything around you.

That question often comes up when people first start looking into hearing aids.

Hearing someone speak doesn’t always mean catching every word they say, particularly in a busy room. Hearing aids handle speech and surrounding sound in several ways, depending on the device and your hearing.

How Hearing Loss Changes the Way You Understand Speech

Hearing loss doesn’t always make every part of speech quieter by the same amount. You might still hear vowels clearly while certain consonants become harder to pick out.

Sounds like s, f and th carry details that distinguish similar words. When those sounds are harder to hear, someone’s voice may seem loud enough even though parts of what they’re saying aren’t clear.

Background noise adds more sound for your ears to process alongside the conversation.

This is why speech may be easy to follow at home but harder in a restaurant or crowded room. You might hear most of a sentence and still need someone to repeat the part you missed.

Why It Is Harder to Follow Conversations in Noisy Places

In a noisy room, your ears receive the person’s voice along with conversations happening nearby and sounds coming from other directions. Many of those sounds share similar frequencies with speech, so they can cover parts of a word before you hear it clearly.

Where the person is sitting also changes what reaches you. A voice from across the table will usually arrive at your ears at a lower level than one beside you.

Hearing loss adds another layer because certain speech details may already be difficult to pick up. You may hear the conversation happening without catching enough of each sentence to follow it easily.

How Hearing Aids Help You Hear More Clearly

Hearing aids process incoming sound before it reaches your ears. Their microphones pick up what’s happening around you, then the processor adjusts that sound using your programmed settings.

In conversation, directional microphones may focus more closely on a person speaking in front of you.

Noise reduction may lower steady sounds like a running fan or road noise. These features don’t remove every background sound, but they change how speech and surrounding noise are presented through the devices.

Special Features in Hearing Aids That Make Speech Easier to Follow

Modern hearing aids include features that change how speech is handled in different listening situations. Which ones are available depends on the model and its programming.

You may come across features like:

• • Directional microphones that pick up more sound from the person in front of you.
  • Speech-focused programs for restaurants, meetings or other busy places.
  • Automatic settings that switch as the sounds around you change.
  • Remote microphones that send a speaker’s voice directly to your hearing aids.
  • Binaural processing that lets compatible devices share information between your ears.
  • Multiple microphone modes that a hearing specialist can program for specific situations.

The Way Hearing Aids Separate Speech from Other Sounds

Brief pauses also appear between words and sentences. Hearing aid processors track these patterns as sound enters the microphones.

Background sounds like an engine or ventilation fan follow a more consistent pattern. The processor recognizes these differences and handles each type of sound according to its programming.

When several people are speaking nearby, the processing changes as the conversation moves from one person to another. Your hearing aids continue analyzing the sounds around you as voices shift and different people begin speaking.

Some models also share information between the devices on each ear while making these adjustments. This processing happens continuously, so the devices respond as the listening environment changes.

Getting Used to New Sounds When Starting with Hearing Aids

The first few weeks with hearing aids introduce sounds that haven’t stood out for some time. Footsteps might seem more distinct, or you might suddenly hear the refrigerator running from another room.

Even your own voice can sound unfamiliar through the devices. Your brain is receiving sound differently now, so it needs time to become familiar with what’s coming through the hearing aids.

Regular wear gives your brain repeated exposure to those sounds. Over time, many sounds stop drawing as much attention because they’re no longer unfamiliar.

The experience varies from person to person, and the settings don’t have to remain exactly as they were on fitting day. Follow-up fitting visits give your hearing specialist a chance to adjust the programming based on what you’ve heard while wearing the devices.

Why a Good Fit Matters for Your Hearing Aid Performance

The way a device sits in your ear has a direct effect on the speech reaching you through the device. A dome or earmould that fits properly keeps the receiver in the position used when your hearing aids were programmed.

If that position changes, certain speech sounds may not come through at the expected level. A loose fit may also create feedback, which can interfere with conversation.

The physical shape of an earmould or dome affects how sound moves through the ear canal as well. Small changes in fit can alter the way speech sounds, even when the programming itself hasn’t changed.

Helpful Tips for Adjusting to Louder Speech

Speech may sound stronger when you first begin wearing hearing aids, particularly when someone is sitting close by. Reading aloud lets you hear your own voice through the devices and spend a few minutes listening without other voices around you.

Television, radio and podcasts expose you to different voices and speaking speeds without requiring you to respond. During conversation, avoid changing the volume every time a voice seems louder than expected.

Frequent changes make it harder to tell how the programmed settings sound over several hours. If certain voices remain uncomfortably loud, write down where it happened and bring those details to your next appointment.

Knowing When You Need an Adjustment for Your Hearing Aids

An adjustment is worth discussing when the same listening problem keeps showing up in a specific situation. You might follow someone across the table but regularly lose words when they speak from your side.

Phone calls streamed through the hearing aids may sound different from conversations happening in the room.

You may also find yourself making the same volume change each morning or switching programs whenever you enter a particular place. These patterns show how the current settings are acting outside your hearing specialist’s office.

Keep track of where the problem happens, who you’re listening to and which setting you’re using at the time.

Your hearing specialist can use those details to decide what needs to be changed. They may adjust a particular program, microphone setting or streaming setup rather than changing the way the hearing aids handle every situation.

Simple Steps You Can Take Now to Better Understand Speech

You can make a few changes during conversation without waiting for a hearing aid adjustment. Start by getting closer to the person speaking since speech becomes softer as distance increases.

Face them directly so both ears receive the voice more evenly, and keep your view of their face open. In a restaurant, sitting with your back toward a wall may reduce some of the sound coming from behind you.

Turn down nearby music or television when you have control over it. If you miss a word, tell the speaker which part you didn’t catch.

Asking, what time did you say gives them something specific to repeat instead of having them say the entire sentence again.

Getting Back to Better Conversations

The answer to how much hearing aids may improve speech understanding depends on your hearing. A hearing assessment shows which parts of speech are harder for you to hear and how your hearing changes when background noise is present.

Those results give your hearing specialist specific information to use when discussing hearing aids with you. You’ll also have a chance to talk about the conversations that give you trouble and what you’d like to hear differently.

That keeps the discussion focused on your hearing rather than what hearing aids do for someone else. Absolute Hearing Services can test your hearing and go through the results with you.

We’ll explain what they mean for speech and discuss what hearing aids may change in the situations you’ve been having trouble with. Call our Langley, BC hearing clinic at 604-210-9743 or Maple Ridge BC at 604-330-4245 to book an appointment and talk through your options.