Hearing Aid Orientation Checklist

Description of Audiogram

  • The audiogram is basically a graph of the hearing tests that we just administered
    • The Blue O's are the responses that you gave for the left ear
    • The Red X's are the responses that you gave for the right ear
  • On the X-axis is the frequency of sounds, lows are toward 250 Hz, highs are toward 8000Hz
    • You can almost think of it as a piano, the low keys are here moving up to the high keys
    • You can think of it as the sound of my voice is low and the sound of a child's voice or bird chirping is over here
  • On the Y-axis is the decibel or loudness scale of sounds
    • You can look at this as the volume that it takes for you to hear sound
    • Zero is at the top and 110, basically the loudest levels that are safe to listen to are here
  • Speech is a dynamic range meaning it encompasses many frequencies
  • The range below 20 decibels is what we consider to be normal and this is the range of where your hearing is 
  • Suspicion of problem
    • conductive
    • cochlea
    • retrocochlea

COSI (Client Oriented Scale of Improvement)

  • The patient self identifies situations of hearing difficulty that they would like to improve
  • Pre-fitting assessment tool
  • Most commonly used outcome measure among clinicians
  • Useful for formalizing the specific listening goals a patient has for hearing aids
  • Patient identifies up to five (at least three) specific listening situations in which he or she would like to hear better
  • Make each item as specific as possible (Hearing my friends while playing cribbage at the Elks Club)
  • Rank them in order of most important

Hearing Aid Orientation Checklist

  • Tell them what you want to get from this experience
  • Identify level of user, manage expectations
    • How comfortable are you with technology?
  • Parts of the hearing aid
    • Battery Drawer
      • How to open and close/turn on/off
      • This is how you turn it on
      • How you change the battery
        • Battery size
          • 10; 3 - 5 days
          • 312; 1 week
          • 13; 1-1.5wks (10-14 days)
          • 678; 2 wks
      • Color of battery pack, show example
      • Where to buy
      • Direction of insertion
      • Aeration of battery for 60 seconds for prolonged life
        • pull off the sticker and let sit for one minute
        • they are activated by the air and letting it sit for a minute gives it a longer life span
      • Life of battery depends on usage
      • The hearing aids will sound a tone as a warning that the batteries are low
      • Batteries are toxic and can look like candy or pills to children or food to an animal
        • keep them out of reach of children and pets
        • there is a battery hotline in case someone swallows it
        • here is the number to poison control
      • *Phonak are rechargeable, can typically get 16 hours of use from them, need to charge them every day/night
    • Storing the hearing aid
      • make sure to open the batter door at night when you are not using them to preserve the life of the battery
      • best to store them in a dry place
  • Parts of the hearing aid
    • Body of hearing aid
      • Button
        • Mode/Program control
        • Volume control
          • Up on the right
            • red, right, raise
          • Down on the left
            • left, lower, blue
      • Microphone, where the hearing aid draws in sound
        • Positon
        • Example 
      • Receiver
        • This is where sound exits
      • Vents allow air to flow
  • Right from Left
    • Red and Blue
  • How to put on
    • Direction of Receiver illustrates side specificity
    • insert the ric completely in canal
    • make sure the wire is flush with the ear
    • illustrate on self
    • use a mirror to show them
  • How to troubleshoot/Management
    • cerumen build-up
    • domes
      • monthly
    • wax guards
      • monthly
    • how to replace and clean
    • explain that sound can change or feedback can occur
    • make sure that the aids are inserted
  • Smartphone Control/Accessibility
    • bluetooth control
    • add to accessiblity
      • general > accessbility > hearing devices > bluetooth on (to search for device)
      • triple tap home button to access
      • download app for more functionality
  • Have them remove and insert it twice
    • Have them explore the functionality
  • Water resistant, not waterproof
    • no showering
    • no swimming
    • a little rain or sweat is okay but be mindful that excess water could cause complications
  • Ask them if they have any other questions

Hearing Aid Materials

  • Acrylic
    • May get slightly softer when warm
    • Durable and easy to modify
    • Best material for many older patients
  • Polyvinyl Chloride
    • Available in softer (recommended for children) and harder varieties
    • More comfortable than acrylic
    • Hearing losses in the moderate to severe range
    • Not as slick as acrylic, not as tacky as silicone
  • Silicone
    • Soft & tacky nature, appropriate for children and ideal for profound hearing loss
    • Recommended for greater hearing loss
    • Difficult to modify