Taking care of your hearing aids probably feels easy enough. When you first obtained your hearing aids, you most likely got a set of care guidelines, after all. In regard to routine hearing aid maintenance, the majority of hearing specialists will give you a step-by-step instruction tutorial. Still, getting that much information at once means you probably didn’t retain some of it. So you still might be wondering, what should my cleaning schedule look like? How about my service schedule? How can I make my hearing aids last as long as possible?
These five, easy-to-follow tips can help give you some answers, as well as simple ways to help in maintaining your hearing aids so they work better longer.
Tip #1: Keep your hearing aids dry
Moisture and electronics don’t really jive. While your hearing aids may provide a certain degree of water resistance, you typically want to keep them dry. Beyond the obvious, this means you need to do things like the following:
- When you have your hearing aids in your ears, don’t use hair care products. When you’re going to utilize hair spray or gel, remove your hearing aids. These types of products can really gunk up your devices.
- Find a cool and dry place to store your hearing aids when you aren’t using them. Many individuals question what the best way to store hearing aids is. Well, don’t, for instance, keep them in your bathroom (which gets really steamy at least once every day). It also helps to keep them in the same spot every day so you’re not wondering where you put them. Also, cats love to play with hearing aids and dogs will sometimes try to eat them, so don’t just leave them lying around.
- Keep a dehumidifier going during those more humid months. When it’s extremely humid, your hearing aids can have more dampness than you would want even indoors. And that moisture can compromise the sensitive electronics inside. Prolonging hearing aid life might mean keeping that dehumidifier running.
Tip #2: Keep the earwax filters nice and clean
The human body naturally produces earwax in a healthy way. It’s also something that hearing aid designers recognize is going to occur. Consequently, most hearing aids are designed to deal with a moderate amount of earwax.
Your job is to be certain your hearing aids don’t become overloaded with ear wax. This means checking and replacing the wax guards when needed (and making that part of your hearing aid cleaning program). You can purchase and use special cleaning tools for this, depending on your hearing aid model (ask us for recommendations here).
How often should wax guards be replaced? Well, for most models, it will be about once a month or so.
Tip #3: Keep your batteries charged and fresh
Your Hearing aids rely on your batteries for power. Your hearing aid will last a lot longer if you keep your batteries fresh. So there are a few battery-care steps you can take:
- When you’re not using your hearing aids, remember to turn them off. Or else, your battery will just sit there and drain. Consequently, when you need your hearing aids the most, they may not be charged enough to function.
- Keep all of the contact points on the battery clean and 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.
- Get a battery charger or a rechargeable hearing aid: That way, you won’t be chucking batteries (and money) away again and again .
Tip #4: Only use clean hands to handle 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 fingers to put in your hearing aids, and those fingers could contain all types of things (salt, maple syrup, Cheeto dust, and so on). Your hearing aids are delicate devices by design, so crumbs aren’t really great for them.
Generally, you should only handle your hearing aids with clean hands. So give your hands a quick wash before you have to take them out and handle them.
Tip #5 Keep up with your hearing specialist
You may assume that you won’t need any assistance from us once you’ve purchased your hearing aids. But… this isn’t usually correct. Most people with hearing loss will want to schedule routine appointments with us for the following reasons:
- Cleaning and maintenance.
- To track and monitor the development of your hearing loss.
- To help make sure your devices fit well.
What should you do when something breaks?
Occasionally, in spite of your best efforts, something goes wrong with your hearing aids (maybe you accidentally step on them). You should contact us as soon as you can in situations such as this.
We will be able to help you repair your devices, or get new ones if necessary.
Want to speak with us about your next set of hearing aids? Make an appointment today!
