It probably feels like a simple thing to care for your hearing aids. After all, you were likely given a set of care guidelines when you first bought your devices. The majority of hearing specialists will give you a step-by-step how-to in regard to regular hearing aid maintenance. Still, getting all of that information at once means you probably didn’t remember some of it. So you still may be wondering, what should my cleaning routine look like? Or, how often should I get my hearing aid serviced? How can I get the most life out of my hearing aids?
These five, easy-to-follow tips can help provide some answers, as well as easy ways to help in taking care of your hearing aids so they function better longer.
Tip #1: Keep your hearing aids dry
Electronics generally don’t like wetness. While your hearing aids may provide a certain level of water resistance, you typically want to keep moisture away from them. Beyond the obvious, this means you should 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 use hair spray or gel, take out your hearing aids. These kinds of products can really gunk up your devices.
- Find a dry and cool spot to store your hearing aids when you’re not wearing them. Many individuals question what the best way to store hearing aids is. Well, don’t, for example, store them in your bathroom (which gets really steamy at least once a day). And in order to keep track of your hearing aids, keep them in the same place every day. In the same way, don’t leave your hearing aids just lying about, dogs love to eat them and cats like to play with them!
- When it’s humid outdoors, run a dehumidifier. When it’s extremely humid, your hearing aids can have more moisture than you would want even inside. And that moisture can compromise the sensitive electronics inside. 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. Hearing aid makers are well aware of this. Most contemporary hearing aids have features that are created to cope 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 changing out your wax guard, when necessary, a routine part of your cleaning routine. Depending on which model hearing aid you have, you can invest in specialized little tools for this and we can help you with that.
How frequently should wax guards be swapped? You will swap these wax guards approximately once every month on most models.
Tip #3: Keep your batteries charged and fresh
Your Hearing aids count on your batteries for power. Your hearing aid will last a lot longer if you keep your batteries fresh. The following are some tips for battery care:
- Be sure all of the battery contacts and components are dry. If they are dirty or wet, you can use a clean, dry cloth to wipe them. As with most electronics, moisture will lead to a bad outcome here.
- Remember to switch off your hearing aids when you aren’t wearing them. Otherwise, your battery will just sit there and drain. And that means your hearing aids could quit working when you least want them to.
- Invest in a rechargeable device or a battery charger: That way, you won’t be throwing batteries (and money) away over and over again.
Tip #4: Clean your hands before handling your hearing aids
The majority of the time, you should be wearing your hearing aids. But they depend on you to put them in. 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). By design, hearing aids are very sensitive and likely won’t do well with things like crumbs.
Generally, you should only touch your hearing aids with clean hands. So before you put in or take out your hearing aids, give your hands a quick cleanse.
Tip #5 Keep us in the loop
You might assume that you won’t require any assistance from us once you’ve purchased your hearing aids. But… this isn’t typically true. Here are some very good reasons why scheduling regular appointments with us is still relevant.:
- Cleaning and maintenance.
- To help you fine-tune your fit.
- Check the status of your hearing loss (making sure it isn’t progressing quicker than expected).
When something breaks, what should you do?
Occasionally, something could go wrong (maybe you accidentally step on them) despite your best effort. You should contact us as soon as possible in cases like this.
If your hearing aid requires any repairs, or you need to get a new one, we can help with that.
Schedule an appointment with us today to discuss your current or next set of hearing aids.