Adjustment
Hearing aids are incapable of truly correcting a hearing loss; they are an aid to make sounds more accessible. Three primary issues minimize the effectiveness of hearing aids:
- The occlusion effect is a common complaint, especially for new users. Though if the aids are worn regularly, most people will become acclimated after a few weeks. If the effect persists, an audiologist or Hearing Instrument Specialist can sometimes further tune the hearing aid(s).
- The compression effect: The amplification needed to make quiet sounds audible, if applied to loud sounds would damage the inner ear (cochlear). Louder sounds are therefore reduced giving a smaller audible volume range and hence inherent distortion.
- The initial fitting appointment is rarely sufficient, and multiple follow-up visits are often necessary. Most audiologists or Hearing Instrument Specialists will recommend an up-to-date audiogram at the time of purchase and at subsequent fittings.
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Famous quotes containing the word adjustment:
“The terror of the atom age is not the violence of the new power but the speed of man’s adjustment to it—the speed of his acceptance.”
—E.B. (Elwyn Brooks)
“Chief among our gains must be reckoned this possibility of choice, the recognition of many possible ways of life, where other civilizations have recognized only one. Where other civilizations give a satisfactory outlet to only one temperamental type, be he mystic or soldier, business man or artist, a civilization in which there are many standards offers a possibility of satisfactory adjustment to individuals of many different temperamental types, of diverse gifts and varying interests.”
—Margaret Mead (1901–1978)
“The adjustment of qualities is so perfect between men and women, and each is so necessary to the other, that the idea of inferiority is absurd.”
—“Jennie June” Croly 1829–1901, U.S. founder of the woman’s club movement, journalist, author, editor. Demorest’s Illustrated Monthly and Mirror of Fashions, p. 204 (August 1866)