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 originally purchased your devices. Most hearing specialists will give you a step-by-step how-to in regard to regular hearing aid maintenance. But it’s quite likely that you may forget some of that information that you got all at once. So you may still have questions like, how frequently should I clean my hearing aid? Or, how frequently should I have my hearing aid serviced? How can I get the most life out of my hearing aids?
These five, simple-to-follow tips can help provide some answers, as well as easy ways to help in taking care of your hearing aids so they work better longer.
Tip #1: Try not to allow your hearing aids to get wet
Electronics typically don’t like moisture. Hearing aids are somewhat water resistant but aren’t at all waterproof, so they need to be kept as dry as possible. Here are a few ways to do just that:
- Find a dry and cool place to store your hearing aids when you aren’t using them. Many people question what the best way to store hearing aids is. Well, don’t, for instance, keep them in your bathroom (which gets nice and steamy at least once a day). And in order to keep track of your hearing aids, keep them in the same spot every day. In the same way, don’t leave your hearing aids just lying around, dogs love to eat them and cats love to play with them!
- Stay away from using hair products while your hearing aids are in. When you’re going to utilize hair spray or gel, take out your hearing aids. Your hearing aid can really become gunked up from these types of products.
- When it’s humid outside, run a dehumidifier. Even indoors, high humidity means your hearing aids might be more damp more often. And the fragile electronics inside of your device will be compromised. Prolonging hearing aid life may mean keeping that dehumidifier running.
Tip #2: Check (and clean) those earwax filters
The human body normally produces earwax in a healthy way. It’s also something that hearing aid makers recognize is going to happen. The majority of contemporary hearing aids incorporate features that are created to deal with a moderate earwax production.
It’s up to you to make sure there’s not too much earwax on your hearing aids. So make swapping out your wax guard, when necessary, a routine element of your cleaning routine. You can buy and utilize special cleaning tools for this, depending on what model you have (ask us for recommendations here).
What is the replacement schedule for earwax guards? You will swap these wax guards around once every month on the majority of models.
Tip #3: Keep your batteries charged and fresh
Your Hearing aids rely on your batteries for power. Your hearing aid will last much longer if you keep your batteries fresh. The following are some tips for battery care:
- Invest in a rechargeable hearing aid or a battery charger: This will save you lots of money on wasted batteries.
- When you’re not wearing your hearing aids, don’t forget to switch the power off. Otherwise, your battery will just sit there and drain. And that means your hearing aids could stop working when you least want them to.
- Be certain all of the battery contacts and components are dry. You can wipe them down with a clean cloth if they aren’t. As with most electronics, moisture will lead to a bad outcome here.
Tip #4: Only use clean hands to handle your devices
The majority 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 in your hearing aids, and those hands could contain all sorts of things (salt, maple syrup, Cheeto dust, and so on). Your hearing aids are delicate devices by design, so crumbs aren’t really very good for them.
In general, you should only handle your hearing aids with clean hands. So before you put in or take out your hearing aids, give your hands a quick wash.
Tip #5 Keep up with your hearing specialist
You might think that you won’t require any help from us once you’ve purchased your hearing aids. But… this isn’t normally correct. Here are some very good reasons why scheduling regular appointments with us is still significant.:
- To clean and maintain your hearing aids.
- To track and monitor the progression of your hearing loss.
- To help you calibrate your fit.
What should you do when something breaks?
Sometimes, something could go wrong (maybe you accidentally step on them) in spite of your best effort. You should get in touch with us as soon as possible in situations such as this.
If your hearing aid needs any repairs, or you need to get 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!
