If you’ve got hearing aids, you should capable of hearing, right? When your hearing aid stops doing its job, it can be extremely frustrating. Luckily, your hearing aids should have no issue doing their job if you take proper care of them.
Go over this list before you do anything hasty. If it’s not one of these ordinary issues, it may be time to pay us a visit to make sure there isn’t a larger problem. Your hearing may have changed, for instance, or you might need a hearing aid recalibration.
Potential Pitfall: Low Batteries
Hearing aid batteries, while improving in quality, still require recharging and replacing occasionally. That means that it’s important to maintain your hearing aids’ batteries. The first thing you need to do if your hearing aid starts to fail or cut in and out is check the battery.
The fix: Keep ‘em Fresh
Investing in a battery tester, particularly if you like to stock up, is a worthwhile idea. Even if you keep batteries sealed until you need to use them, always a smart idea, they have a limited shelf life, and so the last batteries in that giant pack you purchased months ago likely won’t hold a charge as long as the first few did. Another trick: When you unpack new batteries, wait 5 minutes before putting them in. This gives the zinc time to become active, and can potentially help the batteries last longer.
Potential Pitfall: Grease, Grime, And Other Gross Stuff
Regardless of how clean you keep your ears, and if you have a hard time hearing, you’re a lot more likely than the average individual to pay attention to earwax, your hearing aids will gather debris and dirt. If you can hear but sounds seem distorted or somewhat off, dirt might be the cause.
The fix: Clean ‘em Out—And Keep Them Clean!
You can purchase a kit for cleaning your hearing aids 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 disassembling it.
Simple hygiene habits will really help with keeping your hearing aids clean. Whenever you do something that calls for liquid or moisture, like cleaning your face or styling your hair, take your hearing aids out and make certain your hands are dry when handling them.
Potential Pitfall: Trapped Moisture
Even a small amount of moisture can really harm your hearing aid (you won’t need to be submerged, even a sweat can be a problem). Even humidity in the air can be an issue, blocking up the hearing aid’s air vents or draining more quickly. Depending on how much moisture’s entered, you might experience problems from sound distortion to static, to crackling. They could even seem to stop working.
The fix: Keep Them Dry
Be sure that when you store your hearing aids, you open the battery door; and if you’re taking them out for longer than 24 hours, take out the batteries entirely. It takes almost zero effort and guarantees that air can move, and any captured moisture can get out.
Store hearing aids in a cool, dry place. The bedroom is a smart spot, skip the kitchen or bathroom. Storing them in the bathroom might seem convenient but there’s just too much moisture. You will most likely want to get a hearing aid storage box if you live in a very humid environment. Pricier versions plug in, but less costly options use desiccants or gels (yes, like those “throw away do not eat” packets you find in the box when you buy shoes) to take in moisture.
If you’ve tried all of these and none of them are helping then it may be time for you to give us a call.