With the COVID-19 pandemic still affecting people worldwide, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has recommended that individuals wear face masks in public to prevent the spread of the virus. In some places, mask-wearing has even been mandated on the statewide and citywide level. Wearing a mask can be a bit of an adjustment, especially for those who wear glasses or hearing aids every day. Glasses can fog up, and hearing aids can fall out. The mask can also cause extra irritation if it rubs against behind-the-ear hearing aids. Check out these tips for wearing your face mask with hearing aids.
Tie back hair.
If you have long hair, it helps to pull it back into a bun so that it is out of the way. Otherwise, it can get caught as you are putting your mask on. If it gets tangled, you may accidentally rip out the hearing aids, causing them to break near the tubing or wire.
Find the best mask for the job.
Instead of relying on the masks with loops that go behind the ears, choose a mask that instead has four ties and ties behind the head. This will eliminate the potential issue of the loops getting caught in your hearing aids. If you have a loop mask, you could also purchase or make a button extension for it. This is simply a piece of fabric with buttons on each end that wraps around the back of your head. Each loop of the mask goes around a button. Like the tie mask, this also prevents the loops from getting caught in the hearing aids.
Remove your mask in a safe space.
Children and elderly adults may forget they are wearing their hearing aids, and therefore when they take off their mask, hearing aids may fall out and go unnoticed. When removing the face mask, all individuals should check to make sure their hearing aids are still in place. It also helps to remove hearing aids in a safe space, so that if they fall to the floor, they can be found easily.
Do you utilize another method we didn’t mention? Let us know!