It probably feels like a simple thing to take care of your hearing aids. After all, you were most likely given a set of care instructions when you initially purchased your devices. With regard to routine hearing aid maintenance, most hearing specialists will give you a step-by-step instruction tutorial. But it’s very likely that you might 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? 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: Keep your hearing aids dry
Moisture and electronics don’t really get along that well. Hearing aids are somewhat water resistant but aren’t at all waterproof, so they need to be kept as dry as possible. 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 utilizing a lot of hair spray or hair gel. These kinds of products can really gunk up your devices.
- When it’s humid outdoors, run a dehumidifier. When it’s really humid, your hearing aids can have more moisture than you would want even indoors. And that dampness can compromise the sensitive electronics inside. Prolonging hearing aid life might mean keeping that dehumidifier running.
- Find a cool and dry spot to store your hearing aids when you’re not using them. Many individuals wonder what the best way to store hearing aids is. So the steamy bathroom isn’t going to be a great place to store your hearing aids. And in order to keep track of your hearing aids, keep them in the same spot every day. Also, cats love to play with hearing aids and dogs will occasionally attempt to eat them, so don’t just leave them lying about.
Tip #2: Check (and clean) those earwax filters
The human body normally produces earwax in a healthy way. It’s also something that hearing aid designers recognize is going to happen. As a result, most hearing aids are designed to deal with a moderate amount of earwax.
Your job is to make sure your hearing aids don’t become overwhelmed with ear wax. So make swapping out your wax guard, when necessary, a regular part of your cleaning regimen. Depending on what model hearing aid you have, you can invest in specialized little tools for this and we can assist you with that.
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 batteries keep your hearing aids going. Your hearing aid will last much longer if you keep your batteries fresh. The following are some tips for battery care:
- Invest in a rechargeable hearing aid or a battery charger: That way, you won’t be throwing 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. For this reason, when you most need your hearing aids, they might not be charged enough to function.
- Keep all of the contact points on the battery dry and clean. 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: Only use clean hands to handle your devices
Most of the time, your hearing aids should be in your ears. But they depend on you to put them in. You use your hands to put your hearing aids in, and those fingers could contain all sorts of things (salt, maple syrup, Cheeto dust, and so on). By design, hearing aids are very delicate and probably 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 wash.
Tip #5 Keep us in the loop
You may assume that you won’t require any help from us once you’ve purchased your hearing aids. But… this isn’t typically true. Most individuals who have hearing loss will want to make routine appointments with us for the following reasons:
- To help you fine-tune your fit.
- Keep track of the status of your hearing loss (making certain it’s not advancing faster than expected).
- To clean and maintain your hearing aids.
What should you do when something breaks?
Occasionally, something could go wrong (perhaps you accidentally step on them) in spite of your best effort. When this happens, you should get in touch with us as quickly as possible.
We will be able to help you fix your devices, or get a new set if necessary.
Make an appointment with us today to discuss your current or next pair of hearing aids.