Aural rehabilitation is the process of identifying and diagnosing hearing loss, and using therapies and devices to treat hearing loss. It includes learning about your own hearing loss, hearing aids and other assistive listening devices, and retraining yourself - and your brain - to live with hearing loss. Aural rehabilitation also includes educating your family about hearing loss and the best ways to communicate with you and others with hearing impairments.

Learning About Your Hearing Loss

Aural rehabilitation can’t start without a proper diagnosis for your hearing loss. That is why it is so important to include a hearing test with an experienced audiologist as part of your annual physical checkup, especially if you already suspect you have hearing loss, or if you are over the age of 50.

Visit an experienced audiologist to find out what type of hearing loss you have, how it affects different areas of your life, and the best course of action to get you hearing your best.

Helping Your Family Understand Hearing Loss

If you are living with hearing loss, it is important that your family understands your type of hearing loss and how it affects you. They can also learn how to communicate with you so you always understand them, and don’t feel left out of conversations.

Family members can learn tricks like speaking to you when they are in the same room with you, and saying your name before starting a conversation. These simple changes can increase understanding, and help improve the self-esteem of someone living with hearing loss.

Hearing Aids

If you do have hearing loss, the next step in aural rehabilitation could be the use of hearing aids or other assistive listening devices. The longer you have been living with untreated hearing loss, the longer this step in your aural rehabilitation could take to get your hearing to its optimal level.

People who first get hearing aids hear many sounds differently, including the sound of their own voice. With proper aural rehabilitation, new hearing aid users are encouraged to do things like read the newspaper out loud in order to get used to the sound of their voice. These are the types of techniques that a trained audiologist can show you.

Learning To Listen

Learning to listen after being diagnosed with hearing loss takes some time – even if you have hearing aids. That is why it is so important to seek treatment immediately if you suspect hearing loss. Annual checkups with an audiologist are an important part of catching and treating any hearing loss early. The sooner any hearing loss is diagnosed, and treated, the faster and easier the aural rehabilitation will be.

Learning to listen doesn’t just include getting used to new hearing aids, but also learning things like where to stand in a conversation, how to adjust to a noisy environment, and how to communicate with people so they can best communicate with you.

Aural rehabilitation includes things like reading lips and using visual cues to help you understand what is being said in a conversation. Your audiologist will give you communication strategies to help boost understanding, especially in places like restaurants or family gatherings, where the ambient noise can be loud.

See An Audiologist

If you suspect you have hearing loss – of if you are over the age of 50 – book an appointment with an experienced audiologist today. There are many ways an audiologist can help you hear your best and feel your best – and it will all be part of your aural rehabilitation program.