How to Keep Your Hearing Aids Repair-Free

While your audiologist will be able to provide a wide range of hearing aid repairs and make sure that your device is working effectively, it’s always said that prevention is better than the cure. As such, here, we’re going to look at some of the keyways to prevent damage to your hearing aid and to keep it repair-free.

Keep them Moisture-Free

Moisture is the leading cause of damage and the root of most hearing aid repairs. To avoid it, avoid wearing your hearing aids in moist or wet environments. This includes at the pool, in the bathroom and even in the rain. If you’re taking a shower or bath, don’t leave your hearing aids in the bathroom. In general, if you’re not wearing your hearing aids, they should be in their storage case, which will often have a dehumidifying property to make sure that moisture doesn’t build up. If moisture is given the chance to seep into the device, it can cause corrosion and damage to electrical components.

Avoid Extreme Temperatures

The complex technology inside hearing aids is also sensitive to both hot and cold temperatures. As such, you should make sure that you always store your hearing aids somewhere that is cool. If you’re going out in the cold, you should wear something that covers your ears to protect the devices. Similarly, you should avoid letting them in the direct sunlight on sunny and hot days, such as by wearing a wide-brimmed hat.

Clean Them Thoroughly

As your audiologist should tell you when you first get your hearing aids fitted, cleaning them on a regular basis is vital to their performance. Aside from the moisture, dust, debris and earwax can build up and, left unchecked, can start to cause damage to some of the more sensitive components of your device. Purchase a hearing aid cleaning kit and make sure that you wipe them clean with a dry cloth, never a wet cloth or wipe.

Avoid Physical Damage

Hearing aids are not able to tolerate physical impacts of any severity well. Falling onto a hard surface, no matter what the height is, will cause them to be damaged. As such, you should make sure that you handle them carefully.

When taking them out, putting them in or cleaning them, consider doing it over a soft surface so that, if they are dropped, minimal damage is done to them. You should make sure that your hands are washed and dried before handling them, as well, so that there’s no water on your hands, or oil that naturally builds up on your skin.

If you do experience any signs of malfunction or damage, don’t hesitate to take your hearing aids to your audiologist. Aside from being able to prepare most hearing aid repairs right there in their office, they may also be able to provide temporary replacements if your hearing aids have to be sent off for other repairs.