It most likely seems like a simple thing to care for your hearing aids. After all, you were probably given a set of care instructions when you originally purchased your devices. The majority of hearing specialists will give you a step-by-step how-to when it comes to regular hearing aid maintenance. But it’s very 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 often should I have my hearing aid serviced? How can I make my hearing aids last as long as I can?
These five, easy-to-follow tips can help provide some answers, as well as simple ways to help in maintaining your hearing aids so they function better longer.
Tip #1: Try not to let your hearing aids get wet
Electronics generally don’t do well with moisture. Although your hearing aids may provide a certain degree of water resistance, you typically want to keep them dry. Here are several ways to do just that:
- Store your hearing aids somewhere dry and cool. Many individuals wonder what the best way to store hearing aids is. Well, don’t, for example, keep them in your bathroom (which gets nice and steamy at least once a day). It also helps to keep them in the same spot every day so you’re not trying to figure out where you put them. Also, cats like to play with hearing aids and dogs will occasionally try to eat them, so don’t just leave them lying around.
- When it’s humid outdoors, run a dehumidifier. Even inside, high humidity means your hearing aids may be more damp more often. And the delicate electronics inside of your device will be compromised. Prolonging hearing aid life might mean keeping that dehumidifier going.
- When you’re wearing your hearing aids, avoid using hair care products. That is, remove your hearing aids before using 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
The human body naturally produces earwax in a healthy way. Hearing aid designers are well aware of this. Most modern hearing aids incorporate features that are designed to deal with a modest earwax production.
Your task is to make sure your hearing aids don’t become overloaded with ear wax. So make changing out your wax guard, when necessary, a routine element of your cleaning regimen. You can purchase and use specialized cleaning tools for this, depending on your hearing aid model (ask us for recommendations here).
What is the replacement schedule for earwax guards? Well, for the majority of models, it will be around once a month or so.
Tip #3: Keep your batteries charged and fresh
Your Hearing aids depend on your batteries for power. Your hearing aid will last much longer if you keep your batteries fresh. The following are a few tips for battery care:
- Don’t forget to turn off your hearing aids when you aren’t wearing them. This just kills the battery for, well, no good reason. Because of this, when you need your hearing aids the most, they may not be charged enough to function.
- Get a battery charger or a rechargeable hearing aid: This will save you a lot of money on wasted batteries.
- Be certain all of the battery contacts and components are dry. You can wipe them with a clean cloth if they aren’t. This is yet another part of your device where moisture is the enemy.
Tip #4: Wash your hands before handling your hearing aids
Most of the time, you should be wearing your hearing aids. But they don’t get there by themselves. You use your hands 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 sensitive devices by design, so crumbs aren’t exactly great for them.
Generally, you should only touch your hearing aids with clean hands. So give your hands a quick clean before you need to take them out and handle them.
Tip #5 Keep up with your hearing specialist
You may presume that you won’t require any help from us once you’ve purchased your hearing aids. Typically, though, this is not the situation. Here are a few very good reasons why scheduling routine appointments with us is still significant.:
- To help you ensure your devices fit well.
- Check the status of your hearing loss (making sure it’s not advancing faster than expected).
- To clean and maintain your hearing aids.
What should you do when something breaks?
Occasionally, despite your best efforts, something goes wrong with your hearing aids (perhaps you accidentally step on them). You should get in touch with us as soon as you can in situations like this.
If your device requires any repairs, or you need a new one, we can help with that.
Want to speak with us about your next pair of hearing aids? Set up an appointment today!