Supporting Your Child to Use Their Hearing Aids Full Time

When your child wears hearing aids for the first time, they may react in many different ways. They may be surprised, startled, smiling, or sometimes not reacting at all. For young babies, it can be especially hard to tell whether they are hearing with their hearing aids yet.

Your child will need time to get used to this new experience. They are hearing new sounds, feeling the hearing aids on their ears, and sensing the earmolds inside their ear canals. You can help make this a positive experience by talking, singing, reading, and playing with them in a natural, cheerful voice.

Your main goal is for your child to wear their hearing aids whenever they are awake. This is considered full-time use. Full-time hearing aid use is important. Children with hearing loss need consistent and repeated access to speech sounds to learn age-appropriate listening and spoken language skills. Full-time use helps your child learn to listen, understand new sounds, and develop strong communication skills.

Some children adjust quickly and keep their hearing aids on without any problems. Others may need time and encouragement to build up to wearing them full time.

Creating a routine to keep hearing aids on

A predictable routine makes daily hearing aid use much easier for your child.

At the start of each day:

• Begin each morning with a listening check.
• Put the hearing aids in your child’s ears as soon as they wake up. Think of: “eyes open, ears on.”

If your child removes their hearing aids:

• Calmly and gently put them back in right away.
• Try putting their hearing aids back in during a fun activity like peek-a-boo, singing, or playing with a favourite toy. This helps distract your child and makes the hearing aids less tempting to pull out.
• If your child cries or resists strongly, wait a few minutes and try again.
• Use clips, headbands, or sleeves designed to help keep hearing aids in place. Learn more about ways to keep hearing technology on your child’s ears.

If your child frequently removes their hearing aids, speak with your audiologist. There may be a fit issue with the earmolds or the hearing aids. Keeping a calendar of your child’s daily hearing aid use can be useful for you and your audiologist.

Understanding hearing aid feedback (whistling sounds)

You may sometimes hear a whistling noise from your child’s hearing aids. This is called acoustic feedback.

• Feedback happens when sound leaks out from around the earmold and goes back into the hearing aid microphone. It is not harmful to your child.
• Feedback is normal when putting hearing aids on or taking them off.
• Feedback is often more common for babies because their ears are small, soft, and often pressed against surfaces (like during sleeping or feeding), which can cause a gap for sound to leak out between the earmold and the ear.

To reduce feedback, when possible, position your baby so nothing is pressing against their ears. And babies grow quickly, so they may need new earmolds often for a better fit. Learn more about your child’s earmolds and when they may need to be replaced.

Contact your audiologist if feedback continues, as they may be able to offer other solutions.

How to tell if your baby hears sounds with their hearing aids

It can be hard to know whether your baby is hearing with their hearing aids, especially in the first 6 months. A baby’s responses are subtle (easy to miss) and can depend on their age, development, degree of hearing loss, and surroundings. You can look for these typical hearing behaviours.

Birth to 2 months:

• Babies do not respond to very soft sounds.
• When they hear a sound, babies may widen their eyes, stir during sleep, or show no reaction. Having no reaction does not always mean they didn’t hear.

Early hearing development:

• Babies recognize their parent’s voice. It may calm them.
• Later, babies begin to turn their eyes or head toward new sounds and start repeating sounds.
• As babies grow, they:
  • begin to babble
  • respond to their name
  • imitate simple words
  • may say early words like “mama” or “bye-bye”

Other typical hearing behaviours for babies:

• Babies react more to soft sounds when they are sleepy or relaxed. They might not react to these softer sounds at all when they are active and wide awake.
• Voices are more interesting to babies than many household noises.
• Babies prefer complex sounds like music or rattles over simple beeps or claps.
• Some babies quiet down when their hearing aids are turned on. Others get louder because they hear their own voice.
• Older babies may make more varied sounds when using their hearing aids.

To see this information online and learn more, visit MyHealth.Alberta.ca/health/aftercareinformation/pages/conditions.aspx?hwid=custom.ab_daily_hearing_aid_use_child_inst.

For 24/7 nurse advice and general health information call Health Link at 811.

Current as of: March 15, 2026

Author: Audiology, Allied Health Professions

This material is not a substitute for the advice of a qualified health professional. This material is intended for general information only and is provided on an "as is", "where is" basis. Although reasonable efforts were made to confirm the accuracy of the information, Alberta Health Services does not make any representation or warranty, express, implied or statutory, as to the accuracy, reliability, completeness, applicability or fitness for a particular purpose of such information. Alberta Health Services expressly disclaims all liability for the use of these materials, and for any claims, actions, demands or suits arising from such use.