It probably seems like a simple thing to take care of your hearing aids. After all, you were most likely given a set of care guidelines when you first bought your devices. The majority of hearing specialists will give you a step-by-step how-to when it comes to regular hearing aid maintenance. But it’s quite likely that you might forget some of that information that you got all at once. So you could still have questions like, how often should I clean my hearing aid? Or, how frequently should I get my hearing aid serviced? How can I get the most life from my hearing aids?
These five, simple-to-follow tips can help give you some answers, as well as simple ways to help in maintaining your hearing aids so they work better longer.
Tip #1: Keep your hearing aids dry
Electronics generally don’t do well with moisture. Hearing aids are somewhat water resistant but aren’t at all waterproof, so they need to be kept as free from moisture as possible. Beyond the obvious, this means you should do things like the following:
- Find a cool and dry place to keep your hearing aids when you’re not using them. Knowing the best way to store your hearing aids can be a bit of a challenge for many people. Well, don’t, for instance, keep them in your bathroom (which gets really steamy at least once every 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 occasionally attempt to eat them, so don’t just leave them lying around.
- When you’re wearing your hearing aids, don’t use hair care products. When you’re going to use hair spray or gel, remove your hearing aids. Your hearing aid can really become gunked up from these kinds of products.
- When it’s humid outside, run a dehumidifier. Even inside, high humidity means your hearing aids may be more damp more frequently. And that moisture can compromise the delicate electronics inside. Prolonging hearing aid life may mean keeping that dehumidifier going.
Tip #2: Keep the earwax filters nice and clean
The human body naturally generates earwax in a healthy way. Hearing aid designers are well aware of this. As a result, most hearing aids are created to deal with a moderate amount of earwax.
It’s up to you to make sure there’s not too much earwax on your hearing aids. So make swapping out your wax guard, when necessary, a regular part of your cleaning regimen. Depending on which model hearing aid you have, you can get specialized little tools for this and we can help you with that.
How frequently should wax guards be swapped? Well, for the majority of models, it will be about once every month or so.
Tip #3: Keep your batteries charged and fresh
Your batteries keep your hearing aids working. Your hearing aid will last much longer if you keep your batteries fresh. The following are a few tips for battery care:
- 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. As with electronics in general, moisture will result in a bad time here.
- Remember to turn off your hearing aids when you aren’t using them. This just drains the battery for, well, no good reason. Because of this, when you most need your hearing aids, they might not be charged enough to work.
- Get a battery charger or a rechargeable hearing aid: That way, you won’t be throwing batteries (and money) away over and over again.
Tip #4: Wash your hands before handling your hearing aids
Your hearing aids are going to be in your ears most of the time. But they depend on you to put them in. Your hands (which are required in order to handle your hearing aids) could be covered in all kinds of offending materials. By design, hearing aids are very delicate and probably won’t do well with things like crumbs.
It’s essential that you don’t touch your hearing aids with dirty 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
It might seem like, once you have your hearing aids, you can leave your hearing specialist in the dust. But… this is not typically correct. Most individuals with hearing loss will want to make routine appointments with us for the following reasons:
- To keep track of and monitor the advancement of your hearing loss.
- Cleaning and maintenance.
- To help make sure your devices fit well.
When something breaks, what should you do?
Occasionally, something could go wrong (maybe you accidentally step on them) in spite of your best effort. You should contact us as soon as possible in situations such as this.
If your hearing aid requires any repairs, or you need a new one, we can help with that.
Schedule an appointment with us today to discuss your current or next set of hearing aids.