You go above and beyond to ensure your hearing aids are well taken care of. When you go to sleep, you always put them snuggly on the charger and you clean them daily.
Suddenly and discouragingly, your hearing aids aren’t working the way they used to. Thankfully, there are some steps you can take to troubleshoot the issue. Not doing any further damage is your top priority so you won’t need to replace them.
Troubleshooting your hearing aid
Naturally, when you first got your nice new hearing aids, you made a point of storing the owner’s manual in a safe spot. Hopefully, you did so that you can check with your owner’s manual to undertake maintenance and troubleshooting. Using your owner’s manual is essential because every model of hearing aid is different.
On most models there are some other things you can check, here are a few:
- Wax buildup: Perform a visual check of your hearing aid to ensure that there’s no wax buildup interfering with standard functionality. Wax can build up quickly even if you clean your hearing aids regularly so make sure you double check.
- Look for visible damage: Does your hearing aid have any noticeable loose components or cracks in its shell? If you find cracks, it could suggest that moisture is getting in and there may be more significant damage.
- Keep your microphone clear: Check your hearing aid to find out if anything is obstructing the microphone. Your hearing aid might feedback or merely fail to work if the microphone is blocked.
- Check your battery: You’ll still want to check the battery power even if you had your hearing aids on the charger overnight. It might be a good idea to check if you might need new batteries or if the old ones are correctly inserted, particularly if your batteries are replaceable.
Once again you can learn how to address each of these issues by consulting your owner’s manual. In some cases, you may be able to perform maintenance yourself.
When does my hearing aid require repair?
Your hearing aid will most likely need to be professionally repaired if you do routine maintenance and it still malfunctions. You need your hearing aids for nearly every facet of your life so this may not sound very appealing.
It’s certainly worth taking note that “repair” doesn’t necessarily translate into “mail your hearing aids in for service and wait several weeks”. In some instances, we can fix your hearing aid in office while you wait.
Or, depending on the degree of the damage, you could get your hearing aids back in a few hours.
But fast repair will not be possible in all cases. And in those cases, you may find yourself in need of a backup set of hearing aids. So if you’ve got an old pair lying around, ask whether they will serve temporarily. We may even be able to loan you a pair while you are waiting.
Get assistance with your hearing aids without delay
If the audio quality is starting to fail, it’s essential to get your hearing aids checked and repaired.
You’ll want to prevent any downtime. Your mental health and your general health can be affected by neglected hearing loss. And it becomes all too easy to leave your hearing aids sitting in a drawer somewhere while your hearing continues to diminish.
The optimum way to keep your hearing working properly is to keep those hearing aids working. And the ideal way to do that is to keep them clean, keep them charged, and, when needed, bring your hearing aids to get some professional help.
