Taking care of your hearing aids probably feels easy enough. When you initially obtained your hearing aids, you most likely got a set of care instructions, after all. In regard to regular hearing aid maintenance, most 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 still might be wondering, what should my cleaning routine look like? What about my service schedule? How can I get the most life out of my hearing aids?
These five, simple-to-follow tips can help give you some answers, as well as easy ways to help in taking care of your hearing aids so they function better longer.
Tip #1: Try not to allow your hearing aids to get wet
Electronics generally don’t like wetness. While your hearing aids might offer a certain amount of water resistance, you typically want to keep moisture away from them. Beyond the obvious, this means you need to do things like the following:
- When it’s humid outdoors, run a dehumidifier. When it’s very humid, your hearing aids can have more moisture than you would want even indoors. And that moisture can compromise the sensitive electronics inside. Prolonging hearing aid life may mean keeping that dehumidifier running.
- When you have your hearing aids in your ears, avoid using hair care products. That is, take your hearing aids out before using a lot of hair spray or hair gel. Your hearing aid can really become gunked up from these types of products.
- Store your hearing aids someplace dry and cool. Understanding 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 a day). And in order to keep track of your hearing aids, keep them in the same place every day. By the same token, don’t leave your hearing aids just lying about, dogs like to eat them and cats love to play with them!
Tip #2: Keep the earwax filters nice and clean
Earwax production is a normal and healthy thing for the human body to do. It’s also something that hearing aid makers know is going to occur. The majority of contemporary hearing aids include features that are designed to manage a moderate earwax production.
It’s up to you to be sure there’s not too much earwax on your hearing aids. So make changing out your wax guard, when needed, a routine part of your cleaning schedule. You can purchase and use special cleaning tools for this, depending on your hearing aid model (ask us for guidance here).
How frequently should wax guards be swapped? Well, for most models, it will be about once a month or so.
Tip #3: Take care of the batteries
Your batteries keep your hearing aids working. Your hearing aid will last a lot 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. You can wipe them with a clean cloth if they aren’t. As with most electronics, moisture will result in a bad outcome here.
- Get a battery charger or a rechargeable device: That way, you won’t be chucking batteries (and money) away over and over again.
- When you’re not wearing your hearing aids, don’t forget to turn them off. 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 work.
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. 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 very sensitive and probably 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 Keep us in the loop
You may assume that you won’t need any assistance from us once you’ve purchased your hearing aids. Generally, though, this is not the case. Most people with hearing loss will want to make regular appointments with us for the following reasons:
- To keep track of and monitor the development of your hearing loss.
- Cleaning and maintenance.
- To help make sure your devices fit well.
What should you do when something breaks?
Occasionally, despite your best efforts, something goes wrong with your hearing aids (maybe you accidentally step on them). When this occurs, you should get in touch with us as quickly as possible.
If your hearing aid needs any repairs, or you need a new one, we can help with that.
Want to talk to us about your next pair of hearing aids? Set up an appointment today!
