Hearing aids are designed to help those experiencing hearing loss in order to bring back some of hearing that’s been lost. The advancements made in hearing aids have led to incredible developments within these devices that make them even more efficient and proactive than ever before.
However, when it comes to hearing aids, it’s important to pick the right ones to make sure they’re suitable for your needs and more importantly, don’t cause discomfort.
Can hearing aids cause headaches? As long as the hearing devices are appropriate for your needs and have been fitted properly then they shouldn’t cause you any discomfort.
What Causes Headaches with Hearing Aids?
Headaches can often occur depending on a number of factors when it comes to the use of hearing aids. It’s not necessarily common to experience headaches with hearing aids unless they’ve been fitted incorrectly. Here are some causes of headaches when you’re wearing hearing aids.
Feedback Noises
There’s nothing worse than getting high-pitched feedback noises when it comes to your hearing aids, especially as it’s something that’s felt right in the ear canal. There’s no escaping that noise and if it’s constant, chances are it’s going to cause a dull headache to form.
Feedback noise can come in the form of winds or feedback on other devices within the vicinity.
Amplification of Sounds
When you get your hearing aids fitted for the first time, everything may feel a lot louder. It’s important that you’re getting these adjusted until they’re at the correct amplification.
When sound is amplified too much, it can cause a lot of problems, alongside a painful headache or two.
Poor Sound Quality
You know when you concentrate extremely hard to understand or hear something, it often causes a bit of a headache? That’s exactly what can happen when the hearing aid is providing poor sound quality. You’re spending all your time trying to understand what someone is saying but due to the poor quality, it’s extremely difficult to hear it.
Tips to Help Prevent Headaches from Hearing Aids
Preventing a headache from hearing aids is something anyone will want because experiencing a headache of any kind can put you out of action. The more severe the headaches are, the more debilitating they can be.
Here are some preventative tips that can help ensure fewer headaches occur when it comes to wearing hearing aids.
How to Assess What is Causing Your Headache
Is it the hearing aids that are causing the headaches? It may be that it’s just conveniently timed that you got the hearing aids and as a result, headaches have begun. However, there may be an existing, underlying conditioning that is causing the headaches. It’s important to rule out that nothing else may be causing the headaches and mistaking them for the hearing aids.
At the same time, the headache may be temporary as you get used to hearing through your new hearing aids.
Speak to Your Audiologist
If the hearing aids are still persisting and you’ve definitely ruled everything out, it’s best to speak to your audiologist. An audiologist is going to help determine what is wrong with the hearing aid and what’s causing the irritation.
When you first get your hearing aids, you may have been keen to please and simply agreed with whatever the audiologist had said. This may have resulted in a fitting that wasn’t quite as comfortable as you first thought.
Book an appointment with an audiologist to discuss your symptoms and they’ll be able to assess your hearing and the fitting of the hearing aid.
Have Your Hearing Aids Adjusted or Replaced
For some, the hearing aid may need to be refitted to correctly sit in the ear properly. The settings themselves may need to be adjusted in order for them to feel more comfortable when it comes to the sound and the amplification of those sounds.
Alternatively, it might be the case that the hearing aids need replacing. This may be due to the hearing aids no longer functioning as they used to or there’s a fault with them that can’t be fixed by the audiologist. If this is the case, then it’s worth getting them replaced, rather than trying to continue to live through the headaches that are caused by hearing aids.
It’s important that you look after your hearing, so with that in mind, if you have problems with your hearing aids, get in touch with Hearing Solutions of Louisiana. You can reach our team by calling (337) 607-0630.
