Beltone

A Day in the Life: How to Create Your Best Hearing Experience in Everyday Situations

In this session, you will discover:

Tips for Better Hearing Habits
How to Get the Most from Your Hearing Aids
Proper Use for Sports and Exercise
Tips for a Great Hearing Experience when Dining Out
The Key to Driving with Hearing Aids

Estimated Time for this Session: 8 - 10 min.

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Step 1 of 6

4 Tips for Better Hearing Habits

Your hearing aids will improve your hearing ability. But creating a good hearing experience is also a matter of developing good habits. Here are some tips to help you build better hearing habits.

Face The Person You’re Talking To

Directly facing the person you’re conversing with can make all the difference
Seeing facial expressions and lip movements will improve your speech recognition and also enable you to hear voices more clearly

Be Aware of Background Noise

Make an effort to reduce background noise
Turn off an idle TV or radio
If you’re unable to reduce background noise, ask your friends or associates if you can move to a more conversation-friendly spot

Repeat Information You’ve Been Given

Recap or play back information given to you:

Dates and Times
Names and Addresses

Recapping is an effective way to confirm that you’ve heard everything correctly

Be Aware of How You’re Feeling

If you’re at a party, in between meetings or feeling a bit overwhelmed by sounds or impressions, stop and claim a few minutes for yourself. Clear your head and collect your thoughts. Don’t hesitate to ask for breaks either.

Move on to Step 2

Step 2 of 6

How to Get the Most from Your Hearing Aids

As you gradually adjust to wearing hearing aids, experiment with different settings to discover what sounds feel best.

What Can You Do with Your Hearing Aids?

Change Volume and/or Program

What Can You Do with the HearMax App?

Change Volume and Program
Adjusting the Bass, Mid and Treble Tones
Adjust Noise Cancellation (recommended for background noise)
Adjust Wind Noise Reduction (recommended for outdoor situations)

Move on to Step 3

Step 3 of 6

How to Fine-Tune Your Hearing Aids

How do I change programs? How do I check the connectivity between my phone and hearing aids?

How do I find my hearing aids if they have gone missing? Get a quick introduction in the video below.

If you do not have a smartphone or the HearMax App, feel free to move on to the next step.

Move on to Step 4

Step 4 of 6

Enjoy Dining Out Again

The key to a great dining experience is to be open about using hearing aids. Call ahead to ask questions and make specific requests. Here are some suggestions for planning your next restaurant visit.

Choose the Restaurant in Advance

Go for smaller restaurants if you can. They are often more intimate and less noisy than bigger, busier establishments.
Visit the restaurant website for pictures of the interior. Open spaces, high ceilings or hard surfaces generally contribute to poor acoustics and a loud environment. Instead, look for room dividers, booths, curtains and carpets that absorb sound and reduce noise.
Candle lit dinners are romantic, but if you can, choose a well lit restaurant (or table). Better lighting will enable you to see your dining partner and improve your speech recognition.

Be Picky About Where You’re Seated

Ask for a secluded table in a corner or near a wall to avoid the center of the dining room where noise from other tables is generally loudest and coming from all directions.
Inquire about music and volume. Ask to be seated away from loudspeakers or musicians.
If the restaurant has an open kitchen, ask to be seated as far away as possible to avoid kitchen and server noise.
Choose a round table if you can. Round tables foster better group conversations as you can see faces and hear voices more directly.

Choose the Best Seat at the Table

Seat yourself facing towards your dining partner with your back against the rest of the restaurant. The technology in your hearing aids automatically enhances speech and sounds in front of you while suppressing noise coming from your back.
If your group has several people, seat yourself near or facing those you wish to converse with.

Move on to Step 5

Step 5 of 6

Using Your Hearing Aids for Sports and Exercise

Your hearing aids are designed to help you hear in any situation, even when you’re exercising.

Use a Sports Headband

Whether you’re doing yoga or cycling, a headband will help keep your hearings aids firmly seured behing your ears.
They will also reduce wind noise when you’re exercising outdoors.

Use a Sports Lock

A sports lock is a small, soft plastic accessory attached near the receiver to help keep the dome in place in the ear canal.
Sports locks are great for securing hearing aids during physical activity.
If you feel like you would benefit from a sport lock, ask your Hearing Care Professional about one.

Try Out Different Hearing Aid Settings for Your Activity

The right hearing aid setting might depend on whether your exercise involves music, taking direction from an instructor or communicating with others.
Use the HearMax app to try out different settings, volume levels and programs
Try to achieve the best speech clarity or noise reduction.

Move on to Step 6

Step 6 of 6

Driving with Hearing Aids

Here are tips to help you stay safe and confident when you begin driving with your new hearing aids.

Avoid Phone Calls

Phone calls can be a dangerous distraction when driving—even more so, if you’re just getting used to hearing aids.
Try silencing your phone until you become accustomed to driving with hearing aids.

Turn Down the Volume of the Car Stereo

Listening to music can take away focus from important auditive "cues" such as sirens or car horns.

Stop or Pull Over to Adjust Your Hearing Aid Settings

Driving may require some getting used to and experimentation with volume or programs.

Move on to complete this learning session

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Well Done!

Congratulations on completing the fifth Great Start learning session. You are almost there, just one more to go.

In a few days, you'll receive an email with a link to your last learning session. If you have any questions, please contact your Beltone Hearing Care Professional.

Missed a session? Want to keep learning now? No problem.

Learning Session 1 - Begin Your Great Start Here

Learning Session 2 - Handling Your Hearing Aids

Learning Session 3 - Lifestyle Benefits:
Click here for Android or here for iOs

Learning Session 4 - The Magic Of Adjustments