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Clear Captions

For many people with hearing loss, talking on the phone can be frustrating—even if you already wear hearing aids. The Clear Captions app automatically creates captions for your phone calls, so you can hear and read the captions at the same time. The captions can appear on your smartphone, tablet, or desktop computer. Learn more about Clear Captions here. 

Tunity

Even after getting hearing aids, it can still be difficult to hear all the dialogue on the TV—especially if there are other conversations going on or if you’re in a crowded restaurant or airport. With the Tunity app you can get audio from any live TV program streamed right to your phone. You simply use the app’s camera function to take a picture of the show you’re watching, and the audio will sync to your phone automatically! Then you can listen through headphones (or stream it directly to your hearing aids with smartphone-compatible models). Learn more about the Tunity app here.

Sound Alert

It’s hard to understand how important sound is to our everyday lives until hearing becomes difficult. Sounds like a ringing phone, doorbell, beeping of the microwave, smoke alarms, and honking cars let us know what’s going on around us and alert us to danger. The Sound Alert app acts like a second set of ears. It alerts you to these sounds by making your phone flash or vibrate when it hears noises that you specify. Learn more about the Sound Alert app here.

Hearing aids have come a long way. They’re smaller and more powerful with new technology that helps us connect to the world in ways we couldn’t have dreamed of just a few years ago.

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Many hearing aids can now connect to your smartphone to enhance your overall hearing experience. Here are a few of the features you may be able to use with your hearing aids and smartphone:

• Stream phone calls directly to your hearing aids*
• Stream audio, such as music or driving directions, directly to your hearing aids*
• Change left and right volume together or separately
• Switch between the programs or memories set by your provider
• Find lost hearing aids
• Check battery status
• Control hearing aid accessories like a TV streamer or remote mic

The steps to using your smartphone with your hearing aids varies by model of hearing aid and by smartphone. Here are some general principles to help you get started.

If you have an iPhone^®

iPhone-compatible hearing aids connect directly to your phone and allow you to stream phone calls, music, and other audio without the use of an intermediary device. If you haven’t already downloaded the app specific to your hearing aids, see below for links to the Apple® App Store®.

Connecting to an iPhone

Follow these steps to connect your hearing aids to your iPhone:

1. Make sure you have a fresh battery in your hearing aid but leave the battery doors open so it’s not powered up.
2. On your iPhone, go to “Settings”, then “Bluetooth”, and make sure it is turned on.
3. Close the battery door to power up your hearing aid so your iPhone can detect it.
4. Then on your phone, go to “Settings”, “General”, and “Accessibility”.
5. Under “accessibility Tap the “MFI Hearing Devices” option.
6. Tap on the name and model number of your hearing aid when it appears. Your hearing aid will have a check mark next to it once it is connected to your phone.
7. Tap “Pair” to complete the connection. If you are pairing two hearing aids, you will receive two pairing requests.

You can also visit Apple’s website to:

• Check if your hearing aids are iPhone compatible.
• See more detailed instructions on how to set up your hearing aids.

Here’s an example of how the remote mic feature works with an iPhone-compatible hearing aid.

If you have an Android^® phone

Many smartphone-compatible hearing aids work with Android phones. However, not all hearing aid models will work with all Android phones. Check your hearing aid user guide or your manufacturer’s website (links below) for a list of Android phones that will work with your hearing aids. Manufacturer’s websites:

• TruHearing
• Oticon
• Phonak
• ReSound
• Signia
• Starkey
• Widex

With most hearing aid models, you will need to purchase a separate phone clip accessory in order to stream phone calls, music, and other audio to your hearing aids. However, even without a Bluetooth accessory, you can still use many of the other smartphone features are available through the app, such as changing volume and switching programs.

Connecting to an Android phone

Follow these steps to pair your hearing aids to your Android phone.

1. Make sure you have a fresh battery in your hearing aid but leave the battery doors open so it’s not powered up.
2. If you’ve already downloaded the app specific to your hearing aids, your app may have a pairing feature that will walk you through connecting to your phone. If you haven’t downloaded the app, see below for links to the apps in Google Play®.
3. On your phone, go to “Settings” and then “Bluetooth” and make sure it is turned on.
4. Close the battery door to power up your hearing aid, so your Android phone can detect it.
5. Then try launched the app to help you with the setup.
6. For manual setup, go to the Bluetooth settings and look for the name and model number of your hearing aid. It should appear under “Paired Devices”.
7. Tap the hearing aid name to complete the connection to each hearing aid.

Download the Hearing Aid App

Each hearing aid manufacturer has its own app that is designed specifically for use with your hearing aids. In order to take full advantage of the smartphone features, you will need to download the app specific to your hearing aid from the Apple App Store (for iPhones) or Google Play for (Android phones).

• TruHearing: App Store | Google Play
• Oticon On: App Store | Google Play
• Phonak Remote (B-Direct): App Store | Google Play
• Phonak RemoteControl (Belong, Venture): App Store | Google Play
• ReSound Smart 3D (3D models): App Store | Google Play
• ReSound Smart: App Store | Google Play
• Signia: App Store | Google Play
• Starkey TruLink: App Store | Google Play
• Widex Beyond: App Store | Google Play

Other Apps You Can Try

In addition to apps designed specifically for hearing aids, there are many other apps that can enhance your hearing experience. Here are a few you can try:

• Clear Captions: automatically creates captions for your phone calls
• Tunity: audio from any live TV program without an intermediary device
• Sound Alert: alerts you to sounds like the doorbell, smoke alarms, etc. that you might not hear

Read our review of these apps to learn more! *Depending on your hearing aid and phone model, you may need to purchase a separate Bluetooth phone clip accessory to be able to use these functions. Phone clip accessories may be purchased through your provider.

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• Adjusting to hearing loss
• Learning how to best use your hearing aids
• Managing and participating in conversations in both quiet and noisy situations
• Recognizing the speech of a frequent communication partner
• Improving word memory and attention skills
• Understanding visual cues
• Speech/lip reading
• Using other assistive devices such as captioned telephone systems or hearing aid accessories

Aural rehabilitation can be both fun and effective. Many programs use games to develop your cognitive skills and enhance your ability to understand speech. Here are a few training programs that you can do at home:

• Angel Sound: A free, PC-based, self-paced, interactive auditory training and assessment program. It’s also available for the iPhone/iPad in the Apple App store: i-Angel Sound
• clEAR: A subscription-based program that includes online training exercises and professional coaching.
• LACE: A web application that allows you to train from any device with an internet connection.
• Posit Science’s BrainHQ: A program for enhancing brain function by improving accuracy and speed with a focus on auditory reception.

Once you complete an aural rehab program, you will enjoy many positive outcomes, such as better speech discrimination and reduced effort to recognize speech when you hear it. Even a few minutes a session can help improve your ability to understand. So what are you waiting for? Get started today!

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What your family should understand about your hearing loss

The first and most important thing you and your loved ones need to understand is that hearing aids are not magic. A lot of people have the misconception that hearing aids will give people super-sonic hearing or restore their hearing to that of a 20 year old. Although hearing aids do an incredibly good job of returning sounds to a level that is accessible and comfortable, it may still be difficult for you to understand all the information in every situation, regardless of how well the aids have been adjusted. Your family needs to understand that troublesome listening situations that are difficult for people with normal hearing to communicate in—like a busy bar or restaurant—will probably still be difficult for you, even with the best possible hearing aid function. Talk to your family about how hearing aids improve your speech understanding, but how they also have limitations.

What you should understand about your family

Hearing loss is an invisible problem. It’s something very few people even think about, unless it affects them personally. For individuals with hearing loss, even if family and friends know about it, they routinely forget. They may forget to do or say things that normally help you to understand because they’re not actively thinking about your hearing loss. It is important to be patient if this happens. Simply reminding a relative to get your attention before speaking or letting them know you’re having a hard time hearing them can help reduce the frustration in situations like these. A second major issue is that most people are lazy in their speech. Hearing loss or not, we all take short cuts in our language. People shorten phrases, use slang words, mumble, or simply look away or cover their mouth when talking. While there are many ways to approach this issue, the most common is asking them to repeat themselves. However, this does not always solve the problem. If you’re having trouble understanding a family member, try asking them to rephrase what they have said or ask them to speak more clearly. 

Tips to teach your family members

There are many ways to help reduce miscommunication. The important step is to share your ideas with family, friends, and other individuals you communicate with. Learning to advocate for yourself in conversation, especially if you have a hearing loss, is an important way to avoid feeling left out or frustrated with your hearing ability. Here are some basic suggestions to share with loved ones to help them be more effective in communicating with you and other people with hearing loss. Tips for communicating with someone who has hearing loss:

1. Get the person’s attention before you begin speaking to them. Sometimes saying their name isn’t enough. Tap them on the shoulder or face them so they know you are speaking.
2. Make sure you are close enough and the lighting is bright enough that the person you are speaking with can see your face. This will enable them to use visual cues to understand you more easily.
3. If a person with hearing loss misunderstands, try rephrasing what you said instead of repeating. This causes you to slow down slightly, and it reduces your inclination to shout. Shouting often causes the sounds to distort and become even more difficult to understand.
4. Write down (or text) important details. Addresses, phone numbers, and name spellings can be difficult to catch precisely. Send them a message or write a quick note to ensure they have the correct information.
5. If there is too much noise, try choosing a quieter area to talk. Places with excessive background noise and lots of distractions can make conversation difficult for anyone and hearing loss only accentuates the confusion.

These are just a few of the potential tips for enhancing conversation. What works best for you will depend on who you are speaking with, your current situation, and your unique hearing loss. Educate your loved ones about your hearing situation. Let them know what they can expect from your hearing aids. Share these suggestions with them, and you won’t have to smile and nod to move the conversation forward.

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Patience

When you put hearing aids into your ears for the first time, some of the things you hear may not sound the way you remember them or may seem completely foreign. All the new sounds may even be overwhelming. This is completely normal. You haven’t heard everything for a long time and your brain has forgotten how some things are supposed to sound. Getting used to the feel of hearing aids in your ears can take time as well. That’s normal too. Be patient and give yourself time to get used to the feel of hearing aids in your ears. Before long you won’t even notice they’re there. Wear your hearing aids every day for four to six weeks at a minimum. This will give your body and mind enough experience to adjust to a new way of hearing.

Persistence

One of the best ways to help your ears and brain get used to hearing all the sounds around you again is to wear your new hearing aids for at least 8 hours a day. Wearing them for just a couple of hours or infrequently—like only when you go out—could slow your progress or even prevent your brain from fully adapting to your new hearing aids. Be persistent in wearing them for most of the day, most of the time. Then, if you’re still having trouble after wearing them for two weeks, visit your provider and share what you are experiencing. Your provider can then make adjustments based on your feedback. It’s common to need an adjustment, but it will be much easier for your provider to know what to change if you have been wearing them consistently for at least 8 hours a day. Here’s a good way to test your progress:

1. Wear them for at least 8 hours a day for two weeks
2. Then do a routine activity, like watching TV, without them
3. You’ll be amazed at the difference!

Practice

If you want the best results, wearing hearing aids is just like any other activity. Practice makes perfect! You’ll adapt to your new hearing aids more quickly if you try them in many different situations. It will also help you identify specific problems that may require an adjustment, such as the volume being too soft for sounds at certain frequencies. Spend time with your friends or family doing activities that allow you to experience hearing with your new hearing aids in different settings.

• Go for a walk together to try them outdoors
• Sit in a quiet space together
• Have a family party or go out to dinner together

You should also practice wearing them in challenging environments. Visit a noisy place like a public gathering or a busy restaurant. It’s a great way to put your new hearing to the test. Don’t be alarmed if you can’t hear everything; these environments can be difficult for everyone. Instead, ask someone with normal hearing if they are having trouble too; they probably are. Aural rehabilitation programs are another way to accelerate your progress. Rehabilitation training such as clEAR and LACE can dramatically reduce the effort needed to listen and understand when people are speaking to you. 

Positivity

Last but not least, a positive attitude can make all the difference. Wearing hearing aids may not be easy at first, but if you stick with it you’ll see the benefits before long. Remember, you have a team of people rooting for you!

• Your family: ask for their help and encouragement as you practice wearing your hearing aids in new situations; they’ll be the first to notice the improvement
• Your provider: most people need additional adjustments to their hearing aids before they get it right; take advantage of this valuable resource
• TruHearing: explore our User Portal for more tips and advice that can help you succeed with your new hearing aids

Most of all, stick with it! Follow the 4 P’s, and you will significantly increase your chances for success.

Communication Tips from Your Peers

Even with the help of hearing aids, not everyone can hear perfectly. Here’s great advice from other hearing aid wearers on how they have improved their ability to communicate with their family and friends.

“I make sure my husband always looks at me when talking to me. I also mention the fact that I use a hearing aid to other people, so they know how to communicate with me.” – Mara LaBurt, Chapel Hill, NC

“I try to visit one-on-one rather than in groups and look for quiet places when possible. I’m starting a program called Lace Listening to train my attention. I also pay attention to body language.” – Sharrel Boike, Bloomington, IN

“I change settings on my hearing aids—for crowds, for normal conversations, or for listening to music. I find this simple, easy, and effective.” – Theodore Jacus, Roselle, IL

“I try to focus on the person I am speaking with by facing them, so that I can use both my hearing aids and lip reading to assist me in deciphering what is being said.” – Nancy Adler, Lexington, MA

“My family and friends are all aware I wear hearing aids. I’ve learned that sometimes if I cannot hear things, I will laugh and say, ‘Hold on a sec,’ and adjust my hearing aids, and they laugh with me. Wearing hearing aids isn’t embarrassing—constantly saying ‘what’ is.” – Sonni Joyner, Davie, FL

TruHearing can help you with all your hearing needs. Learn how.

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There are two types of rechargeable hearing aids: 

• Silver-zinc: hearing aids with a battery door
• Lithium-ion: hearing aids without a battery door

Find your hearing aid type below to learn more about caring for and extending the life of your hearing aid battery.

Silver-Zinc (with a Battery Door)

Silver-zinc batteries are also called Z-Power batteries. They are about the same size and shape of the batteries you’re used to. They take about 3-4 hours to fully charge and will power your hearing aids for about 24 hours per charge. The battery itself should last about a year, at which point you will need to return to your provider to purchase a new one. 

Advice for Keeping Silver-Zinc Batteries Healthy

1. Always put your hearing aids in the charging station when not in use—even if they have not been fully drained. Constant charging will not drain the battery or shorten the battery life. In fact, the opposite is true.
2. Don’t store your hearing aids in an unplugged charging station. This will drain the batteries and shorten their life.
3. Don’t open the battery door when not using your hearing aids. If you’re used to wearing regular, non-rechargeable hearing aids, you know to open the battery door when you’re not using them in order to save battery life. The opposite is true with rechargeable hearing aids. However, if you’re not going to use your hearing aids for more than three hours and you cannot put them in the charging station, remove the batteries and store them in a place where they are not touching each other or other metallic objects.

How to Charge Silver-Zinc Hearing Aid Batteries

1. Make sure the hearing aids are dry and free of debris before putting them in the charging station.
2. Place the hearing aids in the charging base. The hearing aids will automatically turn off.
3. The indicator light will blink when the hearing aids are charging. The light will stop blinking and stay lit when the hearing aids are fully charged, about 3-4 hours.
4. Make sure to hold the hearing aid by the casing when you take it out of the charger, not by the wire that connects to the receiver.

Lithium-Ion (without a Battery Door)

If your rechargeable hearing aid doesn’t have a battery door, it contains a Lithium-Ion rechargeable battery. These batteries take about 3-4 hours to fully charge and will power your hearing aids for about 24 hours per charge. The battery itself should last for the entire life of the hearing aid, typically 4-5 years. At the end of that 4-5 year period, you should consider purchasing new hearing aids, or you can send your hearing aids to the manufacturer to have the internal battery replaced. 

Advice for Keeping Lithiun-Ion Batteries Healthy

1. Always put your hearing aids in the charging station when not in use—even if they have not been fully drained. Constant charging will not drain the battery or shorten the battery life. In fact, the opposite is true.
2. Don’t store your hearing aids in an unplugged charging station. This will drain the batteries and shorten their life.
3. If you are not going to use your hearing aids for an extended period of time, but you cannot put them in the charging base, simply turn the hearing aids off and store them in a safe place where they will not get damaged.

How to Charge Lithium-Ion Hearing Aids

1. Make sure the hearing aids are dry and free of debris before putting them in the charging station.
2. Place the hearing aids in the charging base. The hearing aids will automatically turn off.
3. The indicator light will blink when the hearing aids are charging. The light will stop blinking and stay lit when the hearing aids are fully charged, about 3-4 hours.
4. Make sure to hold the hearing aid by the casing when you take it out of the charger, not by the wire that connects to the receiver.

Learn more about what TruHearing can do for you.

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1. Store your batteries in a dry place at room temperature. Don’t store them in the refrigerator or freezer where they can get clogged with moisture. At the same time, temperatures that are too high deplete battery life, so avoid leaving them in a hot car or next to a heating vent. 

2. Wait to open your batteries until you’re ready to use them. Keeping them in the packaging ensures they stay dry and won’t lose their charge. If batteries are loose in a purse or pocket, they can come in contact with keys or other metal objects that will shorten their life. 

3. When you put new batteries in your hearing aids, remove the sticky tab on the back of the batteries and let them sit for at least 2 minutes before putting them in your aids. Hearing aid batteries are air activated; if you let them sit for a few minutes, they’ll have a chance to fully activate before being put into use. 

Letting your batteries air activate will generally add up to 18 hours of charge to their life! 

4. Open the battery door on your hearing aids when you take them out at night. When you open the battery door all the way, you turn the hearing aids completely off. That way you can save the battery life for the times when you’re actively using them during the day.

Additional batteries may be ordered from TruHearing at the low price of $39 for 120 batteries. The $39 battery offer is available for all members whether their hearing aids have been purchased from TruHearing or not.

Learn more about how TruHearing can help.

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For in-the-ear hearing aids

For behind-the-ear hearing aids

Learn more about your hearing aid options today. You can also learn more about proper hearing aid maintenance with our other helpful video resources.

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In order to help you keep your hearing aids clean during the summer, we’ve created the short guide below.

If you ever have questions about cleaning, dehumidifiers, sweat bands, or other methods for keeping your hearing aids clean and problem free, contact your provider—they’ll give you the guidance and information you need.

Learn how TruHearing can help with your hearing health.

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