Caring for your hearing aids likely feels simple enough. When you initially obtained your hearing aids, you probably got a set of care instructions, after all. The majority of hearing specialists will give you a step-by-step how-to when it comes to routine hearing aid maintenance. But it’s very likely that you may forget some of that information that you got all at once. So you might still have questions like, how frequently should I clean my hearing aid? What about my service schedule? How can I make my hearing aids last as long as I can?
If you want to keep your hearing aids in good working order, look at the following tips.
Tip #1: Try not to let your hearing aids get wet
Moisture and electronics don’t really jive. Even though your hearing aids might offer a certain amount of water resistance, you typically want to keep moisture away from them. Beyond the obvious, this means you should do things like the following:
- When you’re wearing your hearing aids, avoid using hair care products. When you’re going to utilize hair spray or gel, take out your hearing aids. Your hearing aid can really get gunked up from these kinds of products.
- When it’s humid outdoors, run a dehumidifier. Even indoors, high humidity means your hearing aids might be more moist more often. And that moisture can compromise the sensitive electronics inside. If you want to get the most life out of your hearing aid as you can, get that dehumidifier running!
- Store your hearing aids somewhere dry and cool. Many individuals wonder what the best way to store hearing aids is. Well, don’t, for instance, keep them in your bathroom (which gets nice and steamy at least once a day). And in order to keep track of your hearing aids, store them in the same place every day. Also, cats like to play with hearing aids and dogs will sometimes attempt to eat them, so don’t just leave them lying about.
Tip #2: Check (and clean) those earwax filters
Earwax production is a healthy and normal thing for the human body to do. Hearing aid designers are well aware of this. As a result, most hearing aids are designed to deal with a moderate amount of earwax.
It’s up to you to make sure there isn’t too much earwax on your hearing aids. This means inspecting and replacing the wax guards when necessary (and making that an element of your hearing aid cleaning program). Depending on what model hearing aid you have, you can get specialized little tools for this and we can help you with that.
What is the replacement schedule for earwax guards? Well, for most models, it will be about once every month or so.
Tip #3: care for the batteries
Your batteries keep your hearing aids going. The better your hearing aid batteries are, the longer your hearing aid will last. The following are a few tips for battery care:
- Invest in a rechargeable hearing aid or a battery charger: That way, you won’t be chucking batteries (and money) away over and over again.
- When you’re not wearing your hearing aids, remember to turn them off. This just kills the battery for, well, no good reason. Consequently, when you need your hearing aids the most, they may not be charged enough to function.
- Keep all of the contact points on the battery clean and dry. If they are dirty or wet, you can make use of a clean, dry cloth to wipe them. This is yet another place in your device where moisture is the enemy.
Tip #4: Wash your hands before handling your hearing aids
Your hearing aids are going to spend most of their time in your ears. But they depend on you to put them in. You use your hands to put in your hearing aids, and those fingers could contain all sorts of things (salt, maple syrup, Cheeto dust, and so on). By design, hearing aids are really sensitive and likely won’t do well with things like crumbs.
Generally, you should only touch your hearing aids with clean hands. So before you put in or take out your hearing aids, give your hands a quick cleanse.
Tip #5 Keep up with your hearing specialist
You might presume that you won’t need any assistance from us once you’ve purchased your hearing aids. But… this is not typically correct. Most people with hearing loss will want to make regular appointments with us for the following reasons:
- To track and monitor the progression of your hearing loss.
- To help you ensure your devices fit well.
- Cleaning and maintenance.
What should you do when something breaks?
Occasionally, something could go wrong (maybe you accidentally step on them) despite your best effort. You should call us as soon as possible in cases such as this.
We will be able to help you fix your devices, or get new ones if necessary.
Want to speak with us about your next pair of hearing aids? Set up an appointment today!
