How many hours a day should you wear hearing aids?

If you’ve recently purchased hearing aids, you likely have some questions about how to use your new hearing devices, including: How often should I wear my hearing aids?

Wearing your hearing aids every day is an important part of caring for and maintaining your hearing health, as well as your overall physical, mental and emotional health. Read on to learn more about why consistent use is so valuable to your health and the benefits of hearing aids. 

To answer simply, hearing aids should be worn all day, every day during your waking hours. The reason behind this recommendation lies not with the ears but in the brain. Your brain plays a crucial role in hearing: once sound waves are directed into the eardrum by the outer ear and sent as vibrations into the inner ear, they are transported to the brain to be interpreted as sound. Your brain plays a primary role in speech understanding.

But when adjusting to hearing aids , there’s a learning curve for your brain. With hearing aids, everything will sound louder—and your brain needs time to adapt and begin to process and understand everything again. That’s why consistent wear is so important. If you frequently put in and take out your hearing aids, your brain will never have the opportunity to fully adjust and recalibrate your speech understanding. By wearing hearing aids regularly, your brain can adjust to process amplified sound and adapt to wearing hearing aids.

For new hearing aid wearers who are still adjusting, experts recommend targeting at least four hours of hearing aid wear during the first week, before gradually working up to a full day of wear to acclimate to new amplification levels.

Wearing hearing aids regularly doesn’t simply benefit your hearing—hearing aids' positive effects can also extend to your physical, mental and emotional health.  Below are some of the top hearing aid benefits.

• Decreased listening fatigue: When you experience hearing loss, your brain must work extra hard to hear sounds, so the simple act of listening can be an exhausting process that leaves you drained. Consistently wearing your hearing aids can relieve some of the extra mental effort of participating in conversation;
• Increased socialization: Before wearing hearing aids, you may have had to ask others to repeat themselves, struggled to hear in noisy environments or even excused yourself from conversations entirely if you couldn’t hear. By wearing hearing aids consistently, communication with others becomes much easier and more positive;
• Reduced cognitive decline:  A number of recent studies have shown the link between hearing loss and dementia. However, studies show that treating hearing loss with hearing aids could help  slow the progression of cognitive decline and dementia by decreasing the cognitive overload  of trying to listen through hearing loss;
• Improved hearing: While hearing aids can’t restore your hearing to normal, they can improve your ability to enjoy the sounds and voices around you, helping you more fully participate in and enjoy life;
• Better balance: They may seem unrelated, but hearing and balance are closely connected through the inner ear. Regularly wearing your hearing aids can help maintain balance and reduce your risk of falls and injury;
• Reduced anxiety: Hearing loss can negatively affect communication and make every day social interactions more challenging, leading to feelings of anxiety. Wearing hearing aids every day can help reduce that anxiety by making conversation easier to listen to and understand.

Experts recommend wearing your hearing aids during all waking hours. Review these situations to familiarize yourself with where and when it is encouraged to wear hearing aids:

• At home: It may seem unnecessary to wear hearing aids at home, especially if you live alone. But using your devices at home allows you to continue to enjoy the peaceful, everyday sounds that make up your daily routine, such as the chatter of conversation with family, the ring of a doorbell or the purrs or barks of a pet. Additionally, wearing your hearing aids consistently can help you maintain proper balance and hear any potential sounds of danger, like a fire alarm, keeping you safe and comfortable at home;
• While exercising: There is a popular misconception that hearing aids shouldn’t be worn during exercise to prevent moisture damage, but this is untrue. Modern hearing aids are designed to support your hobbies and daily activities, including breaking a sweat. If damage from exercise sweat or moisture is a major concern, consider Miracle-Ear BLISS™hearing aids with HydroGuard™ to protect your hearing aids against sweat, water, dirt or dust;
• Everywhere else: Wearing hearing aids regularly in any location means that you’re able to fully participate in life happening around you, no matter where you are. Using your hearing aids to navigate running errands, meeting with friends or enjoying your favorite activities can make daily life less stressful and improve your socialization with others.

While hearing aids are recommended for wear during all waking hours, there are moments where it’s recommended not to wear the devices. Remove your hearing aids for:

• Activities in or around water. Whether showering, bathing or going for a swim, water can cause major damage to the delicate technology housed within your devices. Be sure to store your hearing aids safely in a secure case before entering the water;
• Sleeping. Not only do you risk losing or damaging a hearing aid, but wearing your hearing aids overnight can unnecessarily drain the batteries and leave you with a dead device in the morning. Plus, removing your devices at night is an important part of regular hearing aid maintenance. Be sure to properly clean and store your hearing devices every night to ensure that your devices are able to support your hearing long term;
• Applying sunscreen, perfume or hair products. Similarly to water, the tiny particles in aerosol products and some other cosmetics can cause some problems for the small pieces of technology inside the hearing aid. Remove and store your hearing aids when applying these products.

Hearing aids are the recommended solution for addressing hearing loss, but that doesn’t mean that they are an immediate fix. It can take time to reacclimate to the sounds and stimuli that your brain may have forgotten. Sounds may feel unfamiliar or louder than you remember. However, despite the discomfort that may come with wearing hearing aids for the first time, it’s important to continue to wear your devices to adjust to hearing new sounds. Try these tips for getting used to wearing hearing aids:

• Wear them around the house. Start by wearing your devices around the house, where you’re more likely to encounter quieter and more comfortable listening environments. Practice having one-on-one conversations with friends or family to familiarize yourself with the sound of your own voice and conversations with others;
• Take some breaks. While it is recommended to wear your hearing aids all day long, easing yourself into using the devices full time can help your brain become familiar with processing sound with the help of hearing aids. Start by wearing your hearing aids for a few hours every day, before gradually increasing the number of hours of wear. Avoid taking too many listening breaks;
• Be patient with yourself. It can take some time to adjust to your hearing aids—and that’s okay! It’s very normal to experience some discomfort or frustration with the relearning process. Take the time you need to adjust to your hearing aids and know that your experience will improve the longer you wear your devices;
• Speak with your hearing care professional. Discuss any persistent challenges with your hearing aids, such as pain, incorrect fit or volume difficulties, with your hearing care professional. They will be able to make the necessary adjustments to ensure that your devices are comfortable to wear on a consistent basis.

Review these common concerns while adjusting to hearing aids to find more solutions and tips for addressing questions you may have about acclimating to wearing hearing aids.