It most likely 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 purchased your devices. In regard to routine hearing aid maintenance, the majority of hearing specialists will give you a step-by-step instruction tutorial. Still, getting all of that information at once means you most likely didn’t retain some of it. So you might still have questions like, how frequently should I clean my hearing aid? Or, how often should I have my hearing aid serviced? How can I get the most life out of my hearing aids?
If you want to keep your hearing aids in good working order, check out the following tips.
Tip #1: Keep your hearing aids dry
Electronics typically don’t do well with moisture. Even though your hearing aids may offer a certain degree of water resistance, you typically want to keep them dry. Beyond the obvious, this means you need to do things like the following:
- 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 inside. And the fragile electronics inside of your device will be compromised. If you want to get the most life out of your hearing aid as possible, get that dehumidifier going!
- Keep your hearing aids someplace cool and dry. Understanding the best way to store your hearing aids can be a bit of a challenge for many individuals. So the steamy bathroom won’t 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 they went. Also, cats love to play with hearing aids and dogs will occasionally attempt to eat them, so don’t just leave them lying around.
- Stay away from using hair products while you’re wearing your hearing aids. When you’re going to utilize hair spray or gel, take out your hearing aids. These kinds of products can really gunk up your devices.
Tip #2: Check (and clean) those earwax filters
The human body normally generates earwax in a healthy way. It’s also something that hearing aid manufacturers recognize is going to happen. Consequently, most hearing aids are designed to deal with a modest amount of earwax.
Your task is to be certain your hearing aids don’t become overloaded with ear wax. This means checking and swapping the wax guards when necessary (and making that an element of your hearing aid cleaning schedule). You can purchase and use specialized cleaning tools for this, depending on what model you have (ask us for recommendations here).
What is the replacement schedule for earwax guards? Well, for the majority of models, it will be around once a month or so.
Tip #3: Keep your batteries charged and fresh
Your batteries keep your hearing aids going. The better your hearing aid batteries are, the longer your hearing aid will last. So there are several battery-care steps you can take:
- Keep all of the contact points on the battery dry and clean. If they are dirty or wet, you can use a clean, dry cloth to wipe them. As with most electronics, moisture will lead to a bad outcome here.
- When you’re not wearing your hearing aids, remember to switch the power off. This just drains the battery for, well, no good reason. And that means your hearing aids might quit working when you least want them to.
- Get a battery charger or a rechargeable device: This will save you a lot of money on wasted batteries.
Tip #4: Only use clean hands to handle your devices
Your hearing aids are going to be in your ears most of the time. 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). Your hearing aids are sensitive devices by design, so crumbs aren’t exactly great for them.
It’s important 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 wash.
Tip #5 Keep us in the loop
You might think that you won’t need any help from us once you’ve purchased your hearing aids. But… this is not usually true. Most people with hearing loss will want to set up regular appointments with us for the following reasons:
- Keep track of the status of your hearing loss (making sure it’s not advancing quicker than expected).
- Cleaning and maintenance.
- To help you fine-tune your fit.
What should you do when something breaks?
Sometimes, in spite of your best efforts, something goes wrong with your hearing aids (perhaps you accidentally step on them). You should call us as soon as possible in situations like this.
If your device requires any repairs, or you need to get a new one, we can help with that.
Schedule an appointment with us today to discuss your current or next set of hearing aids.