Caring for your hearing aids likely seems easy enough. When you first got your hearing aids, you probably got a set of care instructions, after all. Most hearing specialists will give you a step-by-step how-to when it comes to regular hearing aid maintenance. Still, getting all of that information at once means you most likely didn’t remember some of it. So you still might 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 provide 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 allow your hearing aids to get wet
Moisture and electronics don’t really get along that well. Hearing aids are somewhat water resistant but aren’t at all waterproof, so they should be kept as free from moisture as possible. Beyond the obvious, this means you need to do things like the following:
- Keep your hearing aids someplace cool and dry. Understanding the best way to store your hearing aids can be a bit of a challenge for lots of individuals. So the steamy bathroom won’t be a great place to store 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 sometimes try to eat them, so don’t just leave them lying around.
- When you have your hearing aids in your ears, avoid using hair care products. When you’re going to use 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 moist more often. And that moisture can compromise the sensitive electronics inside. Prolonging hearing aid life might mean keeping that dehumidifier going.
Tip #2: Keep the earwax filters nice and clean
Earwax production is a normal and healthy thing for the human body to do. Hearing aid designers are well aware of this. Most modern hearing aids incorporate features that are created to deal with a modest earwax production.
Your job is to be certain your hearing aids don’t become overloaded with ear wax. So make changing out your wax guard, when needed, a routine part of your cleaning routine. Depending on what model hearing aid you have, you can invest in specialized little tools for this and we can assist you with that.
What is the replacement schedule for earwax guards? Well, for most models, it will be about once every month or so.
Tip #3: care for the batteries
Your Hearing aids depend on your batteries for power. The better your hearing aid batteries are, the longer your hearing aid will last. So there are several battery-care steps you can take:
- Don’t forget to turn off your hearing aids when you aren’t using them. This just kills the battery for, well, no good reason. For this reason, when you need your hearing aids the most, they may not be charged enough to work.
- Get a battery charger or a rechargeable hearing aid: That way, you won’t be throwing batteries (and money) away over and over again.
- Make sure all of the battery contacts and components are 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.
Tip #4: Clean your hands before handling your hearing aids
Most of the time, your hearing aids should be in your ears. But they don’t get there by themselves. You use your fingers to put in your hearing aids, and those hands 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 exactly great for them.
It’s essential that you don’t handle your hearing aids with dirty hands. So give your hands a quick clean before you have to take them out and handle them.
Tip #5 Stay in touch with your hearing specialist
It may seem like, once you have your hearing aids, you can just forget all about your hearing specialist. Generally, though, this isn’t the case. Most people with hearing loss will want to schedule regular appointments with us for the following reasons:
- To help make sure your devices fit well.
- To clean and maintain your hearing aids.
- To keep track of and monitor the development of your hearing loss.
When something breaks, what should you do?
Occasionally, something could go wrong (perhaps you accidentally step on them) despite your best effort. You should call us as soon as possible in situations such as this.
If your device requires any repairs, or you need to get a new one, we can help with that.
Want to talk to us about your next set of hearing aids? Set up an appointment today!