You go above and beyond to ensure your hearing aids are well taken care of. Cleaning them daily, you make sure they are safe and comfortable on their charger when you go to bed.
Suddenly and discouragingly, your hearing aids aren’t working the way they used to. There are a few things you can do to troubleshoot the problem, thankfully. Not doing any additional damage is your top priority so you won’t need to replace them.
Troubleshooting your hearing aid
You kept the owner’s manual that came with your beautiful new hearing aids, right? You’ll want to take it out so you can utilize it for troubleshooting and, potentially, maintenance. Each model of hearing aid can be rather different so it’s important to follow the manual’s recommendations.
On most models there are some other things you can check, here are a few:
- Keep your microphone clear: Look for anything blocking the microphone of your hearing aid. A blocked microphone can cause feedback or can cause your hearing aids to sound broken or quiet.
- Check for noticeable damage: Do you see any visible cracks or loose components around the shell of your hearing aid? Cracks, clearly, could suggest more significant damage (or let in moisture).
- Wax buildup: Perform a visual inspection of your hearing aid to make sure that there’s no wax buildup interfering with basic operation. Wax can build up quickly even if you clean your hearing aids frequently so make it a point to double check.
- Check your battery: Even if you know your hearing aids spent the night on the charger, you’ll want to double-check the battery power. If your hearing aid has replaceable batteries, it might not be a bad idea to check if those batteries are inserted properly or if a new one fixes the issue.
Once again you can learn how to address each of these concerns by referring to your owner’s manual. Self-maintenance is sometimes possible.
How can I tell when my hearing aid needs repair?
If your hearing aid keeps malfunctioning after you’ve performed basic maintenance and troubleshooting, it’s likely that your hearing aid will need to be professionally repaired. You need your hearing aids for almost every facet of your life so this may not sound very appealing.
You won’t automatically be without your hearing aid for lengthy periods of time just because it needs to be repaired. In some cases, we can fix your hearing aid in office while you wait.
Or, depending on the extent of the damage, you could get your hearing aids back in a few hours.
But fast repair will not be possible in every case. A backup pair of hearing aids might be needed in these cases. Maybe you have an old pair that will do temporarily in a pinch. Or maybe we have a loaner pair you can use.
Don’t wait to get help with your hearing aids
It’s essential to get your hearing aid assessed and repaired if you start to notice the audio quality is beginning to fail.
Any amount of downtime needs to be avoided. Untreated hearing loss can affect your general health, and that includes your mental health. More to the point, once your hearing aids are forgotten in a box somewhere, it’s all too easy to pretend they’re not there, all the while, your hearing gets worse and worse.
The optimum way to keep your hearing healthy is to keep those hearing aids working. Keeping them charged, clean, and when necessary, professionally repaired is the best way to do that.