We hear it all the time with first-time hearing aid wearers: “I hear sounds again that I had totally forgotten about.”
Of course you’re going to hear obvious sounds like conversations, music, and your TV when you get hearing aids. Chances are, those were sounds you heard anyway — just not very well — before you treated your loss.
Instead, it’s the small, everyday sounds that you haven’t “heard” in years that take getting used to. Sounds like birds chirping, your refrigerator humming, the furnace kicking in, the turn signals in your car, or the sound of your dog walking on the hardwood floors.
Expect to hear a lot of incidental sounds when you get new hearing aids. Expect to say “what was that?” often, as you get used to hearing those sounds again.
Once you are fit with new hearing aids, it can take time to adapt to hearing these everyday sounds again. Think of it as a treasure hunt, and enjoy the fun of discovering new old sounds again!