The Facts About Hearing Aids: 4 Myths, Debunked

Reviewed by Dr. Bess Nagler, AuD

Most people form their opinion of hearing aids decades before they ever need one. Maybe it was a grandparent's pesky hearing aids that they never wanted to wear or a passing comment about "old people" and their hearing aids. Whatever the source, by the time hearing loss actually arrives, most patients are carrying around a set of assumptions that are either years out of date or were never true to begin with.

At Fortell, we hear the same handful of myths from many new patients, often used as a reason to put off treatment. Here are the questions we often hear related to these myths and the facts about hearing aids. 

"Will hearing aids make my hearing worse?"

The concern usually goes something like: if I lean on a hearing aid, my ears will get "lazy" and lose whatever hearing they have left. What actually happens is closer to the opposite. Hearing loss that goes untreated can lead to a phenomenon researchers call auditory deprivation, where the auditory system, deprived of stimulation, gradually loses some of its ability to process sound and understand speech.

One of the clearest demonstrations of this comes from a classic study that fit patients with hearing loss in both ears with a hearing aid in only one ear. Over time, the unaided ear showed measurably worse speech discrimination than the aided ear, not because the hearing loss itself had changed, but because one ear kept receiving auditory input and the other didn't¹. 

"Will the hearing aids make everything sound loud?"

This reputation mostly traces back to older analog devices, which amplified all sounds indiscriminately. These devices worked well in a quiet room, but completely fell apart in a noisy environment because the wearer would get blasted with sound. 

AI hearing aids work differently. Rather than simply cranking up the volume on everything, they distinguish between different sounds and adjust output based on the listening environment. Fortell AI Hearing Aids identify speech and background noise separately and then amplify only the speech while turning down the background noise so you can hear conversations clearly even in noisy places. 

"Are hearing aids only for older adults?"

Hearing loss is often talked about as an aging issue, and while hearing loss impacts 1 and 3 Americans over the age of 65², hearing loss also impacts people of all ages. 

At Fortell, we see patients as early as their 30s and 40s simply because the world is getting louder. As populations grow and cities get denser, younger generations are exposed to more noise than previous generations and hearing issues show up sooner. 

The World Health Organization estimates that more than 1 billion young people globally are regularly exposed to unsafe listening levels, whether from headphones, concerts, or everyday city noise³. Separately, studies measuring sound levels in metropolitan areas have found that everyday environments, from traffic corridors to commercial districts, commonly sit at or above the roughly 70 dBA mark associated with hearing changes over time⁴. 

Headphone and earbud use is one of the more direct contributors. Nationally representative data on American adolescents found hearing loss in roughly 1 in 5 teenagers, with unsafe personal listening device use identified as a primary driver⁵. As a result, age is becoming a less reliable predictor of who walks through our doors. 

"Are there any hearing aid options that are less bulky?"

This is often the single biggest surprise for new patients, and it's understandable given how long the outdated image has stuck around. Many current devices are barely visible, sitting discreetly in or behind the ear. 

Comfort has come a long way too. Older devices were often bulky and rigid, with hard plastic pieces that could feel obtrusive after a few hours of wear. Materials and fit have improved significantly since then. Devices are lighter, casings are smaller and smoother, and many are now custom-molded or fitted with soft domes designed for a person's specific ear shape rather than a one-size-fits-all approach. 

"Are hearing aids actually a medical necessity?"

Research led by institutions like John Hopkins Medicine and the Lancet Commission confirms hearing loss as the single largest modifiable risk factor for dementia. Treating hearing loss isn't just a matter of comfort or convenience, it's increasingly understood as a health decision with consequences that extend well beyond the ears themselves.

If any of these myths sound familiar, the best next step is a hearing evaluation. Book an appointment with a Fortell audiologist here.

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Sources:

¹Silman S, Gelfand SA, Silverman CA. (1984). Late-onset auditory deprivation: Effects of monaural versus binaural hearing aids. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 76(5), 1357-1362.

2. National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD).Quick Statistics About Hearing, Balance, & Dizziness. National Institutes of Health.

3World Health Organization. (2026). Deafness and hearing loss fact sheet.

4Traffic Noise Assessment in Urban Puducherry, South India.

5Kim J, et al. Associations between adolescents' earphone usage in noisy environments, hearing loss, and self-reported hearing problems in a nationally representative sample of South Korean middle and high school students.

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