It probably feels like a simple thing to take care of your hearing aids. After all, you were likely given a set of care guidelines when you initially purchased your devices. In regard to routine hearing aid maintenance, most hearing specialists will give you a step-by-step instruction tutorial. 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? What about my service schedule? How can I make my hearing aids last as long as possible?
These five, simple-to-follow tips can help give you some answers, as well as easy ways to help in maintaining your hearing aids so they work better longer.
Tip #1: Keep your hearing aids dry
Electronics usually don’t like moisture. Hearing aids are slightly water resistant but aren’t at all waterproof, so they should be kept as dry as possible. Here are several ways to do just that:
- Store your hearing aids someplace cool and dry. Knowing the best way to store your hearing aids can be somewhat of a challenge for many individuals. So the steamy bathroom won’t be a great place to keep your hearing aids. And in order to keep track of your hearing aids, store them in the same spot every day. Also, cats love to play with hearing aids and dogs will occasionally attempt to eat them, so don’t just leave them lying about.
- Keep a dehumidifier running during those more humid months. Even indoors, high humidity means your hearing aids may be more damp more often. And that dampness can compromise the sensitive electronics inside. If you want to get the most life out of your hearing aid as you can, get that dehumidifier running!
- When you have your hearing aids in your ears, avoid using hair care products. That is, remove your hearing aids before utilizing a lot of hair spray or hair gel. Your hearing aid can really become gunked up from these types of products.
Tip #2: Keep the earwax filters nice and clean
The human body normally produces 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.
Your job is to make sure your hearing aids don’t become inundated with ear wax. This means checking and swapping the wax guards when necessary (and making that part of your hearing aid cleaning routine). You can invest in and utilize specialized cleaning tools for this, depending on your hearing aid model (ask us for recommendations here).
How often should wax guards be replaced? Well, for the majority of models, it will be about once a month or so.
Tip #3: Take care of the batteries
Your batteries keep your hearing aids going. Your hearing aid will last much longer if you keep your batteries fresh. 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. This is yet another part of your device where moisture is the enemy.
- Get a battery charger or a rechargeable device: That way, you won’t be throwing batteries (and money) away again and again .
- When you’re not wearing your hearing aids, remember to turn them off. Or else, your battery will just sit there and drain. Because of this, when you most need your hearing aids, they may not be charged enough to function.
Tip #4: Clean your hands before handling your hearing aids
Your hearing aids are going to spend most of their time in your ears. But they don’t get there on their own. You use your hands to put in your hearing aids, and those hands could contain all types of things (salt, maple syrup, Cheeto dust, and so on). By design, hearing aids are really delicate and probably won’t do well with things like crumbs.
Generally, you should only handle your hearing aids with clean hands. So give your hands a quick wash before you need to take them out and handle them.
Tip #5 Keep up with your hearing specialist
It might feel like, once you have your hearing aids, you can just forget all about your hearing specialist. Typically, 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 adjust your fit.
- To track and monitor the development of your hearing loss.
- To clean and maintain your hearing aids.
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 you can in situations such as this.
If your device needs 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 pair of hearing aids.
