It’s an infrequent possibility, but fortunately, there’s an easy fix

Are you convinced your recent spate of headaches is linked to your hearing devices?

It’s not far-fetched. Whether new or old, your hearing aids do, indeed, have the potential to cause headaches.

Don’t toss them in the back of a drawer just yet — plenty of other things cause headaches. And if your hearing aids are the culprit, your hearing care provider can almost assuredly solve the issue in no time.

How Hearing Aids Can Lead to Headache

Your brain is out of practice

Your ears and brain work together to accomplish hearing. Your ears gather sound, translate the sound waves into nerve impulses, and send those to your brain to be processed and interpreted.

But with hearing loss, your brain gets used to receiving less sound information. When you get hearing aids, it suddenly has a lot more sound information coming at it.

It’s out of practice, though. It’s a lot like a muscle that hasn’t been worked in a long time and then starts lifting heavy weights. The increase in noise might wear out your brain more quickly, causing fatigue and, ultimately, a headache.

New sounds are overwhelming

But it’s not just the amount of new sound information that can cause headaches. All those subtle sounds, like a fridge click, bird chirp, or autumn leaf crunch, are back in the picture.

Though you used to hear those sounds all the time, you haven’t in a while. Hearing them again — or realizing how long it’s been since you last heard them — can be overwhelming. And your brain needs to relearn how important, or unimportant, these sounds are and filter them accordingly.

This work can be taxing, leading to fatigue and headache.

The programming or fitting needs to be adjusted

Your hearing aids were set up according to your audiogram and a discussion of your lifestyle. But they were set up at the practice specifically for you.

As you live your life, you’ll notice that, in certain environments, your hearing aids could work a little better. And if you’re getting too much sound or volume in certain environments, it can lead to headaches.

Same with how your devices feel in your ears. Perhaps they felt just fine at the practice, but as you go about your life, they might start to become uncomfortable. The discomfort can turn into a headache.

Hearing Aid Headaches Are Usually Treatable

Always check with your provider if you suspect your hearing aids are causing your headaches.

If the issue seems to be an overwhelmed or out-of-practice brain, your provider can counsel you on how to move forward with your new devices in ways that will better support your brain’s increased load.

And today’s hearing aids are so sophisticated that most volume or fit issues can be fixed without sacrificing sound quality and with a few easy adjustments.

But don’t expect budget hearing aids to behave like premium models — your provider has a lot more control over the technology in a premium device.

Older Devices Can Cause Similar Issues

Your hearing can change over time because of age, noise exposure, genetics, and other factors. Just because you have hearing aids doesn’t mean your hearing can’t get worse.

As your hearing changes, your brain can start to get less sound information, just like before you got hearing aids. If you go too long before getting your settings adjusted — or if you upgrade to new technology — your brain can have similar fatigue issues and similar headache issues.

If you suspect your hearing aids are causing headaches — or if you think it’s time for a hearing test — contact us today!