Hearing Aid Care Made Simple. Top 10 Tips To Care for Your Ear Gear

If youve been to a hearing healthcare professional youve already undergone sticker shock. These highly-sophisticated digital hearing aids can set you back a lot of cash if you go with all the features and goodies.

Even a mid-range device will set you back more than a week-long cruise and you dont even get the endless buffet! But heres the thing. Okay, so you plunked down a small fortune for those devices but face facts, you cant put a price on the improvement in the quality of life now that you can hear again. The key, now, is maintenance. Hearing Aid Maintenance 101.



Extend the life of your hearing aid with a lil’ TLC

Here are 10 tips to keep your hearing aids running at peak performance for years to come. And that means these tips are money savers because you wont have to purchase a replacement if you take care of the gear you got.

So, on to the tips.Remove your hearing aid at night and open the casing door.
The biggest enemy of hearing aids is moisture and debris all parts of lifes rich tableau. Sweat and daily grime can damage some hearing aids..

Todays quality models come with a moisture resistant casing and moisture resistant wiring but even these devices should get a little air time to dry out any moisture accumulated throughout the day.

By opening the casing you allow air to ventilate the interior components and you dont waste battery power while the device sits on the bedside table. Good tip and easy, too.

Consider the purchase of a hearing aid dehumidifier.
If youre prone to heavy sweating or in a moisture rich environment (such as humidity), a hearing aid dehumidifier saves you lots of cash long-term. Again, moisture is a hearing aids worst enemy.

With a hearing aid dehumidifier, moisture isnt a worry. Simply place the hearing aid in the dehumidifier before you hit the sheets and the next morning youre hearing aids are high and dry. Its a minor expense thatll protect your major expense those hearing aids.

Gently wipe clean the outer part of your hearing aid.
You dont need a scrub brush or steel wool. A soft cloth will due. Simply wipe clean the hearing aids external surface and, if you wear a custom in-the-ear unit be sure to even wipe clean the part of the device that actually fits into the ear canal itself.

Ear wax production is a natural, beneficial process, so simply wipe your devices clean with a soft dry cloth and youre done. This will help prevent wax building up in the receiver tube.

If you tend to build up a lot of wax and it is visible in the receiver opening, you may have been provided a safe tool to use by your hearing healthcare professional. These tools are designed to gently dig out any wax that my have entered the tip. Do this with caution and follow directions given to you by your provider as pushing it too deep could potentially damage the receiver.

Hearing aid maintenance isnt hard and it doesnt take a lot of time. Ahh, but it does save you a lot of money on replacement devices in the years ahead. Worth a few minutes each day, wouldnt you say?

Keep hearing devices away from extreme heat and cold.
No electronics like excessive heat or cold. It doesnt suit their inner workers. This is especially true of a hearing aids which has lots of delicate electronics all housed in a discreet, low profile.

The point? Dont leave your hearing aids in the hot car while you take a cool dip and try not to climb K2 where temperatures fall to -30 degrees. You might run into a technical malfunction thatll ruin the climb.

Dont wear ear gear while applying hair products.
Real good advice.

If youve got your hearing aids in place and decide to spritz a little spray on your flip, some of that material will end up on the microphone of the hearing aids. These mics are tiny but powerful. When clogged with hair spray, mousse, gels and other hair products, your hearing aid may not hear as well as it could. Not only will the products gunk up the microphones, they will also attract debris and dirt causing even more cloggage.

Stay out of the pool.
Yes, there are water resistant hearing aids thatll hold up to the occasional splash in the ear, but these devices dont like getting wet. That means swimming, showers, saunas or just running through the sprinkler (you kid, you). Keep your instrument dry to keep it chugging along for a long time.

If you wear behind-the ear units for pizzazz, change the tubing often.
Behind-the-Ear (BTE) hearing aids rest on the outer part of your ear. The guts are encased in a small, discreet casing behind the ear in lots of cool colors. Today there are many different varieties of BTEs but typically the unit is connected by a thin, plastic tube either to a custom plastic earmold or to a receiver unit, both which sit inside the ear canal.

Those plastic tubes wear out. They get brittle, hard and they crack. Change these BTE tubes as needed. If you have questions about dos and donts, call your hearing aid provider for a tune-up. The point is, you paid for quality hearing and an inexpensive, thin plastic tube shouldnt degrade that quality of hearing. Its an easy fix.

Swap out microphone protectors.
Same deal.

The microphone rests on the edge of the ear canal(or on top of your ear in the case of BTEs) feeding you amplified information as needed. As a result, these mics need protection from ear wax and debris that makes its way in to the microphones (no matter how much you clean).

These devices are delicate, wide-frequency units that require protection. The majority of digital hearing aids will come with microphone covers already on them. Over time they can become clogged and require replacing them. Some models will allow you to swap out your mic mittens regularly and if none of this means anything to you, stop by your hearing pros office so he/she can do it for you correctly.

Keep hearing aids away from children and pets.
This is pretty obvious. If its on the ground, it goes in the mouth. Small hearing aids pose a choking hazard and a high-blood pressure alert as you see your BTE chewed to bits by the dog and the grandkids.

This ones a no-brainer. Hide them or wear them but keep them away from toddlers and pets. Its an expensive lesson, one you dont have to learn.

Finally, have your ears checked regularly.
As the owner of a pricey hearing aid you want red-line performance out of the box. Well, your hearing needs change so an annual hearing evaluation and a tweak or two on your ear gear will have you hearing your best and enjoying life to the fullest.

You bet hearing aids are expensive, but consider what they do and in such a small space. These are quality of life instruments that you dont want to replace as you see it circling the drain toward the garbage disposal. Thats gonna cost ya.

So, take care of these hearing tools. Its not hard, it doesnt take long and in the end, you benefit. Win-win.

Hear, hear.