Caring for your hearing aids likely feels easy enough. After all, you were most likely given a set of care guidelines when you initially purchased your devices. Most hearing specialists will give you a step-by-step how-to when it comes to routine hearing aid maintenance. 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 schedule look like? What about my service schedule? How can I make my hearing aids last as long as I can?
If you want to keep your hearing aids in good working order, check out the following tips.
Tip #1: Try not to allow your hearing aids to get wet
Electronics usually don’t like moisture. Hearing aids are somewhat water resistant but aren’t at all waterproof, so they should be kept as dry as possible. Beyond the obvious, this means you need to do things like the following:
- Store your hearing aids someplace dry and cool. Knowing the best way to store your hearing aids can be a bit of a challenge for many people. So the steamy bathroom isn’t going to be a very good place to keep your hearing aids. It also helps to keep them in the same spot every day so you’re not trying to figure out where you put them. By the same token, 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 could be more damp more frequently. And the fragile electronics inside of your device can be compromised. Prolonging hearing aid life may mean keeping that dehumidifier going.
- 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, take out your hearing aids. These kinds of products can really gunk up your devices.
Tip #2: Check (and clean) those earwax filters
Earwax production is a normal and healthy thing for the human body to do. It’s also something that hearing aid designers know is going to occur. Most modern hearing aids have features that are designed to cope with a modest earwax production.
Your task is to make sure your hearing aids don’t become inundated with ear wax. So make swapping out your wax guard, when needed, a routine part of your cleaning regimen. Depending on which model hearing aid you have, you can get specialized little tools for this and we can help you with that.
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. The healthier your hearing aid batteries are, the longer your device will last. So there are several battery-care steps you can take:
- Get a battery charger or a rechargeable device: This will save you lots of money on wasted batteries.
- Keep all of the contact points on the battery clean and dry. If they are dirty or wet, you can make use of a clean, dry cloth to wipe them. As with electronics in general, moisture will result in a bad time here.
- Remember to shut off your devices when you aren’t using them. Or else, your battery will just sit there and drain. And that means your hearing aids may stop working when you really need them.
Tip #4: Wash your hands before handling your hearing aids
The majority 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 hands could contain all sorts of things (salt, maple syrup, Cheeto dust, and so on). By design, hearing aids are very delicate and probably won’t do well with things like crumbs.
Generally, you should only handle your hearing aids with clean hands. So give your hands a quick clean before you have to take them out and handle them.
Tip #5 Keep up with your hearing specialist
You may think that you won’t need any help from us once you’ve purchased your hearing aids. But… this is not normally true. Most individuals who have hearing loss will want to set up routine appointments with us for the following reasons:
- Cleaning and maintenance.
- To help you ensure your devices fit well.
- To track and monitor the development of your hearing loss.
When something breaks, what should you do?
Occasionally, something could go wrong (maybe you accidentally step on them) despite your best effort. You should get in touch with us as soon as you can in cases such as this.
We will be able to help you fix your devices, or get new ones if needed.
Want to speak with us about your next pair of hearing aids? Make an appointment today!