Top Hearing Aid Maintenance Tips

You need to rely on your hearing aids every day to enable you to clearly hear and connect with others. If your hearing aids do go wrong, it can be a difficult few days or weeks while you wait for them to be fixed. Through some preventative maintenance and proper care, you can extend the life of your hearing devices and reduce the likelihood of them going wrong and having to get by without them.

Here are some useful hints that will make sure you can get the most from your devices.

Avoid moisture and store in a dry place

Your hearing aids contain some very sophisticated technology inside of them and have essential circuitry in a very small shell. When this technology is exposed to moisture, it can cause a lot of damage. Some hearing aids are now being made that are better able to resist water, but it’s still a good idea to take them out before you shower or swim, just to be on the safe side. If your hearing aids do get wet, dry them gently with a towel. Never try to dry your hearing aids with a hair drier or any other heated device since the high temperatures can damage them.

If you live in a humid place, you should store your devices in a specialized hearing aid dehumidifier to keep them safe from moisture.

Change hearing aid batteries often

Hearing aid batteries can actually damage your devices if you leave them in for a prolonged period. The trapped moisture can cause the batteries to start to corrode, which will damage the hearing aids. When you’re not wearing your hearing aids, leave the battery door open, so moisture can’t gather. If, for any reason, you won’t be wearing your hearing aids for a few days, take the batteries out.

When you change the batteries, clean the battery contacts. You can do this by gently wiping the contacts with a dry cotton swab. If the battery contacts on your devices are allowed to get dirty, it can make the connection worse and lower performance.

Keep devices free of earwax 

Earwax is one of the big causes behind lowered performance in hearing aids. Unfortunately, it’s impossible to avoid your devices coming into contact with earwax, so you need to clean them frequently.

After wearing your hearing aids, take a dry cotton swab or soft toothbrush and gently clean away any earwax or other debris. Remember to clean the receiver and the microphone.

Change your wax filter

As well as cleaning earwax off of your hearing aid, you will also need to replace the wax filter or the wax guard occasionally. The filter is what stops earwax from reaching the important internal components of the hearing aid and damaging the hearing aid. This should be done whenever you begin to notice any build-up on the filter.

Not all hearing aids use the same filters. Your audiologist can advise you which one to use and show you how to change it for your device properly.