How to Prevent the Most Common Hearing Aid Repairs

Although they are being designed to be more resilient than ever before, hearing aids are still made of some pretty complex technology. As such, if you’re not careful, it is easy for them to get damaged or to malfunction. Here, we’re going to look at some of the most common hearing aid repairs that your audiologist has to carry out, and what you can do to prevent them.

Preventing Battery Problems

Battery problems are some of the most common malfunctions with hearing aids of all types. While there are multiple potential causes, the leading cause, by far, is the build-up of moisture. Moisture leads to corrosion of the battery, which can then lead to corrosion throughout the device.

Keep your hearing aid out of moist or wet areas such as rainy weather and the bathroom. Keep it in its storage case when you’re in these areas and make sure that your batteries are removed and stored in a cool, dry location when you’re not wearing them.

Preventing Ear Hook or Microphone Damage

Dropping your hearing aid or bumping anything up against it is very likely to cause some sort of damage, whether to the ear hook, the microphone or even the circuitry inside. As such, you have to be careful to make sure that you’re handling your hearing aid with care. Always handle it over a soft surface, as a drop from any height onto a hard surface is likely to cause damage. Any time you’re not wearing it, keep it in the storage case so that it can’t be dropped off counters or can’t have anything put on top of it, either.

Preventing Earwax Buildup

Wax buildup is going to cause a host of problems, from moisture building up to dust getting into places it shouldn’t and causing malfunctions. The single best way to prevent this is to clean your hearing aid on a daily basis with a purpose-built hearing aid cleaning kit. You should also talk to your audiologist about having your ears professionally cleaned now and then as people who wear hearing aids do tend to produce more earwax, which can in turn damage the hearing aids.

Preventing Feedback and Sound Distortion

If you’re experiencing any new feedback or strange distortions and changes to the sound, there can be a few different causes. Aside from those mentioned above, this can happen as a result of hot or cold temperatures. The circuitry inside hearing aids cannot tolerate extreme temperatures and, as such, you should avoid wearing them outside for too long in very cold weather or when it’s especially hot or sunny. Make sure that you’re wearing something to counteract and protect them in adverse weather, such as earmuffs or an ear-covering hat in the cold.

Prevention is the best cure. However, if you’re unable to prevent your hearing aid from getting damaged, then make sure you get in touch with your audiologist. They will be able to provide the most common hearing aid repairs there in their own office.