Taking care of your hearing aids likely feels simple enough. When you first obtained your hearing aids, you probably got a set of care instructions, after all. 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 might forget some of that information that you got all at once. So you still may be wondering, what should my cleaning schedule look like? What about my service schedule? How can I get the most life from my hearing aids?
If you want to keep your hearing aids in good working order, look at the following tips.
Tip #1: Try not to let your hearing aids get wet
Moisture and electronics don’t really jive. Although your hearing aids may provide 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, avoid using hair care products. When you’re going to use hair spray or gel, take out your hearing aids. These types of products can really gunk up your devices.
- Store your hearing aids somewhere dry and cool. Understanding the best way to store your hearing aids can be a bit of a challenge for lots of individuals. Well, don’t, for example, store them in your bathroom (which gets nice and steamy at least once every day). It also helps to store them in the same spot every day so you aren’t trying to figure out where you put them. In the same way, don’t leave your hearing aids just lying around, dogs like to eat them and cats love to play with them!
- Keep a dehumidifier going during those more humid months. Even indoors, high humidity means your hearing aids may be more moist more often. And the fragile electronics inside of your device can be compromised. Prolonging hearing aid life may mean keeping that dehumidifier running.
Tip #2: Keep the earwax filters nice and clean
The human body naturally produces earwax in a healthy way. Hearing aid manufacturers are well aware of this. The majority of contemporary hearing aids incorporate features that are designed to cope with a moderate earwax production.
It’s up to you to make sure there’s not too much earwax on your hearing aids. This means inspecting and replacing the wax guards when needed (and making that an element of your hearing aid cleaning program). You can invest in and utilize special cleaning tools for this, depending on your hearing aid model (ask us for recommendations here).
How often should wax guards be swapped? You will swap these wax guards around once every month on the majority of models.
Tip #3: Take care of the batteries
Your batteries keep your hearing aids working. The better your hearing aid batteries are, the longer your device will last. The following are a few 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 again and again .
- Be certain all of the battery contacts and components are dry. If they are dirty or wet, you can use a clean, dry cloth to wipe them. As with electronics in general, moisture will result in a bad outcome here.
- When you’re not wearing your hearing aids, remember to turn them off. Otherwise, your battery will just sit there and drain. And that means your hearing aids might stop working when you least want them to.
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 don’t get there by themselves. You use your hands to put your hearing aids in, and those hands could contain all kinds of things (salt, maple syrup, Cheeto dust, and so on). By design, hearing aids are really sensitive and likely won’t do well with things like crumbs.
It’s important that you don’t handle 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 purchase your hearing aids, you can just forget all about your hearing specialist. Generally, though, this isn’t the case. Most people with hearing loss will want to set up regular appointments with us for the following reasons:
- To help you fine-tune your fit.
- To keep track of and monitor the development of your hearing loss.
- Cleaning and maintenance.
When something breaks, what should you do?
Occasionally, despite your best efforts, something goes wrong with your hearing aids (maybe you accidentally step on them). You should call us as soon as possible in situations such as this.
If your hearing aid needs any repairs, or you need a new one, we can help with that.
Make an appointment with us today to talk about your current or next set of hearing aids.