{"id":841,"date":"2026-07-07T11:20:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-07T10:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/audiology-new\/?page_id=841"},"modified":"2026-07-07T11:25:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T10:25:14","slug":"how-hearing-aids-work","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/audiology\/hearing-loss\/how-hearing-aids-work\/","title":{"rendered":"How hearing aids work"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Hearing aids are available from the NHS for anyone who needs them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-light-accent-grey-background-color has-background\" style=\"border-width:2px\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Here are many benefits of getting an NHS hearing aid:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Your hearing aids are provided free of charge as a long-term loan.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Batteries are free of charge.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Follow-up appointments and aftercare is free of charge.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-light-accent-grey-background-color has-background\" style=\"border-width:2px\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>The hearing aids improve your hearing in three stages:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The microphone picks up sounds around you, which is processed through the sound processor and converted into a digital signal.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The amplifier increases the level of the processed sounds.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The speaker then transmits those sounds into your ears.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Hearing aids improve the clarity of sounds including speech. It is important to note that hearing aids do not restore normal hearing. The microphone may pickup background noises as well as speech.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When you have a hearing loss your brain adapts to not hearing certain sounds. When using a hearing aid these sounds are reintroduced. It can take time for the brain to adapt to these new sounds (around 6-12 weeks).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We recommend using hearing aids for around 10-12 hours a day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-content-justification-left is-layout-flex wp-container-core-buttons-is-layout-b192c3d7 wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button has-custom-width wp-block-button__width-100\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/audiology\/hearing-loss\/\">Back<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hearing aids are available from the NHS for anyone who needs them. Here are many benefits of getting an NHS hearing aid: The hearing aids improve your hearing in three stages: Hearing aids improve the clarity of sounds including speech. It is important to note that hearing aids do not restore normal hearing. The microphone<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":309,"featured_media":0,"parent":798,"menu_order":1,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_searchwp_excluded":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"class_list":["post-841","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"rttpg_featured_image_url":null,"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"scottsamson","author_link":"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/audiology\/blog\/author\/scottsamson\/"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":false,"rttpg_excerpt":"Hearing aids are available from the NHS for anyone who needs them. Here are many benefits of getting an NHS hearing aid: The hearing aids improve your hearing in three stages: Hearing aids improve the clarity of sounds including speech. It is important to note that hearing aids do not restore normal hearing. The microphone","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/audiology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/841","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/audiology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/audiology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/audiology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/309"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/audiology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=841"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/audiology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/841\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1327,"href":"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/audiology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/841\/revisions\/1327"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/audiology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/798"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/audiology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=841"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/audiology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=841"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}