It probably feels like a simple thing to care for your hearing aids. After all, you were probably given a set of care instructions when you initially bought your devices. The majority of hearing specialists will give you a step-by-step how-to when it comes to routine hearing aid maintenance. But it’s quite likely that you may forget some of that information that you got all at once. So you still may be wondering, what should my cleaning schedule look like? How about my service schedule? How can I get the most life from my hearing aids?
These five, easy-to-follow tips can help give you some answers, as well as simple ways to help in maintaining your hearing aids so they work better longer.
Tip #1: Keep your hearing aids dry
Electronics typically don’t like wetness. Hearing aids are slightly 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:
- Find a dry and cool place to keep 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 instance, store them in your bathroom (which gets nice and steamy at least once every day). It also helps to store them in the same place every day so you aren’t trying to figure out where they went. By the same token, don’t leave your hearing aids just lying about, dogs love to eat them and cats love to play with them!
- Keep a dehumidifier going during those more humid months. When it’s really humid, your hearing aids can have more moisture than you would want even indoors. And that moisture can compromise the sensitive electronics inside. Prolonging hearing aid life might mean keeping that dehumidifier running.
- When you’re wearing your hearing aids, 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: Keep the earwax filters nice and clean
The human body normally generates earwax in a healthy way. It’s also something that hearing aid designers know is going to take place. Consequently, most hearing aids are created to deal with a moderate amount of earwax.
It’s up to you to make sure there isn’t too much earwax on your hearing aids. So make changing out your wax guard, when necessary, a regular part of your cleaning schedule. You can purchase and use special cleaning tools for this, depending on your hearing aid model (ask us for guidance here).
How often should wax guards be swapped? You will swap these wax guards around once every month on the majority of models.
Tip #3: Keep your batteries charged and fresh
Your Hearing aids depend on your batteries for power. The better your hearing aid batteries are, the longer your hearing aid will last. The following are some tips for battery care:
- Invest in a rechargeable hearing aid or a battery charger: That way, you won’t be throwing batteries (and money) away over and over again.
- Remember to turn 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 need your hearing aids the most, they might not be charged enough to function.
- Keep all of the contact points on the battery dry and clean. You can wipe them with a clean cloth if they aren’t. As with electronics in general, moisture will result in a bad outcome here.
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 on their own. Your hands (which are required in order to handle your hearing aids) could be covered in all sorts of offending substances. 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 wash before you need to take them out and handle them.
Tip #5 Keep us in the loop
It may feel like, once you have your hearing aids, you can leave your hearing specialist in the dust. In most cases, though, this isn’t the situation. Here are a few very good reasons why scheduling regular appointments with us is still significant.:
- To help you ensure your devices fit well.
- Cleaning and maintenance.
- To track and monitor the development of your hearing loss.
What should you do when something breaks?
Sometimes, something could go wrong (perhaps you accidentally step on them) in spite of your best effort. You should get in touch with us as soon as you can in cases such as 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 talk about your current or next pair of hearing aids.