Your hearing aids should help you hear better right? When your hearing aid fails at its one job, it can be extremely frustrating. Luckily, your hearing aids should have no trouble doing their job if you take proper care of them.
Consider this list before you do anything hasty. It might be time to come in and talk with us if you find it isn’t one of these ordinary issues. Your hearing might have changed, for example, or you might need a hearing aid recalibration.
Potential Pitfall: Low Batteries
Hearing aid batteries, while improving in quality, still need to be recharged or replaced occasionally. So keeping up with charging your batteries is crucial. The first thing you should do if your hearing aid begins to falter or cut in and out is check the battery.
The fix: Keep ‘em Fresh
A battery tester is a beneficial investment, especially if you like to stock up. Even if you keep batteries sealed until it’s time to use them, always a smart idea, they have a limited shelf life, and so the last batteries in that huge pack you bought months ago probably won’t hold a charge as long as the first few did. Another trick: When you unpack new batteries, wait 5 minutes before installing them. This gives the zinc time to activate, and can potentially help the batteries last longer.
Potential Pitfall: Grease, Grime, And Other Gross Stuff
No matter how clean you keep your ears, and if you have difficulty hearing, you’re a lot more likely than the average individual to pay attention to earwax, your hearing aids are going to collect debris and dirt. You may find yourself with a dirt problem if sounds seem a little bit off or distorted.
The fix: Clean ‘em Out—And Keep Them Clean!
You can get a kit for keeping your hearing aids clean or you can use items you already have around the house to keep them clean. You can use a microfiber cloth, like the kind you use to clean your cellphone or glasses, to wipe your hearing aid down after taking it apart.
Simple hygiene practices will go a long way to keeping your hearing aids clean. Whenever you do something that calls for liquid or dampness, such as cleaning your face or styling your hair, take your hearing aids out and make sure your hands are dry when handling them.
Potential Pitfall: Trapped Moisture
Moisture can wreak havoc on hearing aids, and it doesn’t take much to do so (think sweating, not deep-sea diving). Even humidity in the air can be an issue, blocking up the hearing aid’s air vents or causing batteries to drain more quickly. Depending on how much moisture’s entered, you may experience problems from sound distortion to static, to crackling. They may even seem to quit altogether.
The fix: Keep Them Dry
Be sure that when you store your hearing aids, the battery door is open; and if you’re taking them out for longer than overnight, take out the batteries entirely. Any trapped moisture will be able to evaporate and air will be able to circulate with very little effort on your part.
A cool, dry place is the best spot to keep your hearing aids. Don’t store them in the bathroom or kitchen. Even though the latter is convenient, the moisture from a hot shower is exactly what you don’t want. If you live in a humid climate, you might want to think about investing in a hearing aid storage box. Most versions use a desiccant in the form of a small moisture absorbing packet, but some more expensive versions remove moisture with electronics.
If you’ve tried all of these and none of them are helping then it might be time for you to give us a call.