Caring for your hearing aids probably feels simple enough. After all, you were likely given a set of care guidelines when you initially purchased your devices. Most hearing specialists will give you a step-by-step how-to in regard 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 often should I clean my hearing aid? How about my service schedule? How can I get the most life out of my hearing aids?
These five, simple-to-follow tips can help provide some answers, as well as easy ways to help in maintaining your hearing aids so they function better longer.
Tip #1: Keep your hearing aids dry
Moisture and electronics don’t really jive. Even though your hearing aids may offer a certain degree of water resistance, you generally want to keep moisture away from them. Beyond the obvious, this means you should do things like the following:
- When you have your hearing aids in your ears, don’t use hair care products. That is, remove your hearing aids before using a lot of hair spray or hair gel. These kinds of products can really gunk up your devices.
- Find a dry and cool place to keep your hearing aids when you aren’t using them. Understanding the best way to store your hearing aids can be a bit of a challenge for lots of individuals. So the steamy bathroom isn’t going to be a very good place to store your hearing aids. It also helps to keep them in the same place every day so you’re not wondering where you put them. Also, cats like to play with hearing aids and dogs will sometimes try to eat them, so don’t just leave them lying around.
- Keep a dehumidifier going during those more humid months. When it’s really humid, your hearing aids can have more dampness than you would want even indoors. And the fragile electronics inside of your device will be compromised. Prolonging hearing aid life might mean keeping that dehumidifier going.
Tip #2: Keep the earwax filters nice and clean
Earwax production is a normal and healthy thing for the human body to do. Hearing aid designers are well aware of this. Most contemporary hearing aids have features that are created to deal with a modest earwax production.
It’s up to you to make sure there isn’t too much earwax on your hearing aids. This means examining and replacing the wax guards when needed (and making that part of your hearing aid cleaning program). You can purchase and utilize special cleaning tools for this, depending on your hearing aid model (ask us for recommendations here).
What is the replacement schedule for earwax guards? You will change these wax guards approximately once every month on the majority of models.
Tip #3: Keep your batteries charged and fresh
Your Hearing aids rely on your batteries for power. The better your hearing aid batteries are, the longer your device will last. The following are a few tips for battery care:
- Don’t forget to shut off your devices when you aren’t using them. This just drains the battery for, well, no good reason. And that means your hearing aids could stop working when you really need them.
- Invest in a rechargeable device or a battery charger: This will save you lots of money on wasted batteries.
- Make certain all of the battery contacts and components are dry. If they are dirty or wet, you can make use of a clean, dry cloth to wipe them. As with electronics in general, moisture will result in a bad outcome here.
Tip #4: Only use clean hands to handle 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 delicate and likely won’t do well with things like crumbs.
Generally, you should only handle 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 Stay in touch with your hearing specialist
You may think that you won’t require any assistance from us once you’ve purchased your hearing aids. Typically, though, this isn’t the case. Most individuals with hearing loss will want to schedule routine appointments with us for the following reasons:
- Cleaning and maintenance.
- To help you calibrate your fit.
- To keep track of and monitor the advancement of your hearing loss.
What should you do when something breaks?
Occasionally, despite your best efforts, something goes wrong with your hearing aids (perhaps you accidentally step on them). When this happens, you should contact us as quickly as possible.
We will be able to help you repair your devices, or get new ones if necessary.
Want to speak with us about your next set of hearing aids? Make an appointment today!