Clinic Blog - Week # 4

Today in clinic a man came in to pick up his in-the-ear hearing aid that had been sent away for repairs. Upon putting it back in, he found that he could not turn it on without it "squealing." The hearing aid was manipulated and the settings were changed in order to try to eliminate the feedback. We were not successful. Mrs. Neldon explained that after wearing hearing aids for a long time the ear canal stretches out and the hearing aid does not have a tight fitting like it did when it was initially fit. We ordered "paint" to paint on the hearing aid to make a better fit. This was significantly cheaper than paying to recase the hearing aid. He said he was willing to try this first, and if it didn't work, then we could look into recasing the hearing aid. He took his hearing aid with him and was told he could try a small piece of medical tape for temporary relief from the feedback. He will return when the "paint" comes in and hopefully we can help and get a better fit to eliminate the feedback problem.

This article talks about the guidelines for hearing aid fittings for adults. We should always aim for the best possible fitting for our client in order to prevent feedback and for the comfort of the client :)

ASHA Ad Hoc Committee on Hearing Aid Selection and Fitting
Guidelines for Hearing Aid Fitting for Adults (1998). American Journal of Audiology, 7, 5 - 13.
http://aja.asha.org/cgi/reprint/7/1/5?maxtoshow=&HITS=10&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=&fulltext=+feedback+&andorexactfulltext=and&searchid=1&FIRSTINDEX=20&sortspec=relevance&resourcetype=HWCIT