It probably feels like a simple thing to care for your hearing aids. After all, you were likely given a set of care instructions when you first purchased your devices. Most hearing specialists will give you a step-by-step how-to in regard to regular hearing aid maintenance. Still, getting all of that information at once means you most likely didn’t retain some of it. So you still may be wondering, what should my cleaning schedule look like? Or, how frequently should I get my hearing aid serviced? How can I get the most life from my hearing aids?
If you want to keep your hearing aids in tip-top working order, check out the following tips.
Tip #1: Try not to allow your hearing aids to get wet
Electronics usually don’t like moisture. Even though your hearing aids may offer a certain amount of water resistance, you generally want to keep moisture away from them. Here are several ways to do just that:
- Store your hearing aids someplace cool and dry. Many people wonder what the best way to store hearing aids is. 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 they went. In the same way, don’t leave your hearing aids just lying about, dogs like to eat them and cats like to play with them!
- Stay away from using hair products while you’re wearing your hearing aids. When you’re going to use hair spray or gel, remove your hearing aids. These kinds of products can really gunk up your devices.
- Keep a dehumidifier running during those more humid months. Even indoors, high humidity means your hearing aids could be more moist more frequently. And that moisture can compromise the sensitive electronics inside. Prolonging hearing aid life may mean keeping that dehumidifier running.
Tip #2: Check (and clean) those earwax filters
The human body naturally generates earwax in a healthy way. It’s also something that hearing aid designers understand is going to happen. Most modern hearing aids have features that are designed to cope with a modest earwax production.
It’s up to you to make sure there’s not too much earwax on your hearing aids. This means checking and swapping the wax guards when needed (and making that part of your hearing aid cleaning routine). 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? Well, for the majority of models, it will be about once a month or so.
Tip #3: Keep your batteries charged and fresh
Your Hearing aids count on your batteries for power. 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 clean and dry. You can wipe them down with a clean cloth if they aren’t. As with most electronics, moisture will result in a bad outcome here.
- Remember to turn off your devices when you aren’t using them. This just kills the battery for, well, no good reason. Because of this, when you need your hearing aids the most, they may not be charged enough to function.
- Get a battery charger or a rechargeable hearing aid: This will save you lots of money on wasted batteries.
Tip #4: Only use clean hands to handle your devices
Most of the time, you should be wearing your hearing aids. 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 types of things (salt, maple syrup, Cheeto dust, and so on). By design, hearing aids are very delicate and likely won’t do well with things like crumbs.
It’s important that you don’t touch your hearing aids with dirty hands. So give your hands a quick wash before you need to take them out and handle them.
Tip #5 Keep us in the loop
It might seem like, once you have your hearing aids, you can just forget all about your hearing specialist. But… this is not usually correct. Most individuals who have hearing loss will want to make routine appointments with us for the following reasons:
- Cleaning and maintenance.
- To keep track of and monitor the development of your hearing loss.
- To help you ensure your devices fit well.
What should you do when something breaks?
Occasionally, something could go wrong (maybe you accidentally step on them) despite your best effort. You should contact us as soon as possible in situations like this.
We will be able to help you fix your devices, or get a new set if needed.
Schedule an appointment with us today to talk about your current or next set of hearing aids.