Hearing Aid Fitting.

At Toronto Hearing Consultants, our mission is to ensure all our patients have a successful hearing aid fitting and are excited to wear their hearing aids everyday. As an independent hearing clinic in Toronto, we are not linked to any manufacturer. Hearing aid selection is the stage in the process where the physical and electroacoustic requirements of the hearing aid are identified. This is based on patients’ cosmetic preferences, dexterity issues, family input if they are involved in the care process. and most importantly: listening challenges and goals identified during the needs assessment of the hearing test appointment. No two patients have a similar hearing journey, and at Toronto Hearing Consultants, we ensure a bespoke hearing aid fitting and will recommend the brand, model and technology level most suitable for the patient’s success.

Once the hearing aid is selected, the audiologist will program the hearing aids on the computer by inputting in the information from the hearing test and adjusting the sound to the patient’s preference. Based on the listening challenges identified for the patient, additional settings or programs can be added to the hearing aid. For example, a musician patient may require additional programs to ensure music still sounds natural through a hearing aid.

Hearing aid verification is a critical part of the hearing aid fitting process, as it ensures the patient’s unique ear canal characteristics are considered. Once the hearing aids are programmed, a real ear measurement is performed (insertion of a small probe tube connected to a microphone into the ear canal), in order to ensure that the hearing aid is actually providing a sufficient amount of volume at each pitch to accommodate the hearing loss. It is important to verify the programming completed in step 2, as everyone’s ear canal is different, and the computer is not aware of the patient’s specific ear canal characteristics when the aids are programmed. The computer is only aware of the patient’s hearing test results.

Once hearing aid programming and verification is complete, the orientation begins. The patient is oriented to all aspects of the hearing aids. This includes inserting the hearing aids, caring and cleaning for the hearing aids, and using any additional accessories that may have been selected to work in conjunction with the hearing aids. We ensure that all patients will leave prepared and confident to make hearing aids part of their daily routine.