As part of trade deal reached on May 8, the U.K. said that the U.S.
3. A note on cost. Although hearing aids can be pricey, there are affordable options, and a good audiologist should be able to let you try out options at several price points. Insurance often covers much of the cost, and there are ways to pay for the remaining cost in installments. Also, avoidance has pretty high costs as well, audiologists say, and the longer the wait, the harder it may be to solve the problem with a hearing aid. Although there are cheaper hearing aids at big box stores, Bachmann warns that it’s good to check with your audiologist before taking that route. “Some of those hearing aids are locked, so that you’re not allowed to have them programmed by an outside audiologist,” she says.Remember, says Stamper, that hearing aids are an investment, and usually last between five and six years.
4. Know your rights. “We select what is the most likely to be successful, and if it doesn’t work out you come back and do something else,” says Stamper. She said most states mandate a trial period. In some cases, hearing-aid companies also cover the cost of multiple visits to your audiologist while you are getting used to your new hearing aid and get training in how to use and maintain it.5. Embrace the process, and expect it to take a little time and a few expert tweaks. Audiologists say your brain needs time to adjust to a hearing aid, and that hearing-aid settings should be adjusted little by little as your brain adapts to them.“A big misconception is that you can just wear them a couple hours a day. Your brain does better with it if you use them most of the day. Your brain needs to adapt to hearing sounds it hasn’t heard for a while, and it takes the brain awhile to relearn how to process all those sounds,” says Stamper.
6. Be realistic. “Although hearing aids can be enormously beneficial, they may not give you back your normal hearing,” says Stamper. Depending on the situation, there might be limitations to what a hearing aid can do.“It might just be lots of improvement in the key areas in which you’re struggling,” said Stamper.
Using hearing aids is a process, the audiologists say, and although it requires some patience, it can be well worth the journey.
For more AP Lifestyles stories, go toHere’s what to know about auroras and how to spot them.
The sun is at the maximum phase of its, making the light displays more common and widespread. Colorful northern lights have decorated night skies in unexpected places and space weather experts say there are more auroras still to come.
Last spring, the strongest geomagnetic storm in two decades slammed Earth, producing light displays across the Northern Hemisphere. And last fall, a powerful solar storm dazzled skygazers far from the Arctic Circle when dancing lights appeared in unexpected places including Germany, the United Kingdom, New England and New York City.Aurora displays known as the northern and southern lights are commonly visible near the poles, where charged particles from the sun interact with Earth’s atmosphere.