It most likely seems like a simple thing to care for your hearing aids. When you initially obtained your hearing aids, you probably got a set of care instructions, after all. With regard to routine hearing aid maintenance, most 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 may be wondering, what should my cleaning routine look like? How 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 simple ways to help in taking care of your hearing aids so they function better longer.
Tip #1: Try not to let your hearing aids get wet
Electronics typically don’t do well with moisture. Hearing aids are slightly water resistant but aren’t at all waterproof, so they should be kept as free from moisture as possible. Here are several ways to do just that:
- Keep your hearing aids somewhere cool and dry. Knowing the best way to store your hearing aids can be somewhat of a challenge for many people. So the steamy bathroom won’t be a very good place to store your hearing aids. 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 like to eat them and cats love to play with them!
- When it’s humid outdoors, run a dehumidifier. Even inside, high humidity means your hearing aids may be more moist more often. And the fragile electronics inside of your device can be damaged. If you want to get the most life out of your hearing aid as you can, get that dehumidifier going!
- 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 get gunked up from these kinds of products.
Tip #2: Keep the earwax filters nice and clean
Earwax production is a healthy and normal thing for the human body to do. It’s also something that hearing aid manufacturers understand is going to occur. Consequently, most hearing aids are created to deal with a moderate amount of earwax.
Your task is to be certain your hearing aids don’t become overwhelmed with ear wax. This means checking and swapping the wax guards when necessary (and making that part of your hearing aid cleaning routine). Depending on which model hearing aid you have, you can invest in specialized little tools for this and we can assist you with that.
How often should wax guards be swapped? Well, for most models, it will be around once a month or so.
Tip #3: Keep your batteries charged and fresh
Your batteries keep your hearing aids working. The healthier your hearing aid batteries are, the longer your device will last. So there are several battery-care steps you can take:
- Keep all of the contact points on the battery dry and clean. You can wipe them down with a clean cloth if they aren’t. As with electronics in general, moisture will lead to a bad time here.
- Invest in a rechargeable hearing aid or a battery charger: This will save you a lot of money on wasted batteries.
- Don’t forget to shut off your hearing aids when you aren’t wearing them. Or else, your battery will just sit there and drain. For this reason, when you most need your hearing aids, they might not be charged enough to function.
Tip #4: Clean 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 fingers to put in your hearing aids, and those fingers could contain all sorts of things (salt, maple syrup, Cheeto dust, and so on). Your hearing aids are sensitive devices by design, so crumbs aren’t really great for them.
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 wash.
Tip #5 Keep us in the loop
You may presume that you won’t need any assistance from us once you’ve purchased your hearing aids. Usually, though, this is not the case. Most people who have hearing loss will want to make routine appointments with us for the following reasons:
- Check the status of your hearing loss (making sure it’s not progressing quicker than expected).
- To help you calibrate your fit.
- To clean and maintain your hearing aids.
When something breaks, what should you do?
Sometimes, in spite of your best efforts, something goes wrong with your hearing aids (perhaps you accidentally step on them). When this occurs, you should get in touch with us as quickly as you can.
We will be able to help you fix your devices, or get new ones if needed.
Want to speak with us about your next set of hearing aids? Set up an appointment today!
