MANAGING AND TROUBLE SHOOTING YOUR HEARING AIDS

PART 1

Now that you have purchased your hearing aids you will enjoy hearing the sounds of life again. Proper care and maintenance will reduce the need for repairs. Your audiologist should provide you with the Owner’s Manual that is written for your specific hearing aids, which gives information about the use and care.

Regular Maintenance Guide

Having a regular routine is important and will reduce your need for trouble shooting.

There are two main components:

1. cleaning the hearing aids (and/or earmolds)

2. changing the battery

· Cleaning – If you clean your hearing aids every day, you will prevent wax build up in the receiver opening where the sound comes out. If the receiver opening becomes completely blocked, your hearing aids will not work. If it is partially plugged with wax you can experience problems like distortion or feedback (squealing). Most hearing aids come with a wax loop or a brush that is used for cleaning.

· Battery – Knowing when to change your battery can be difficult in the beginning. Finding a way that works for you is important. Here are a few suggestions.

1. When you change your battery, put the “tab” that you took off the back of your battery on your calendar for two weeks in the future. Do that every time you change your battery and you will see a pattern emerge. You can predict when you are going to need to change your battery.

2. Some people purchase a battery tester. They test the battery when their hearing aids stop working to see if the battery is working. This method is often chosen when an individual does not wear his/her hearing aids the same amount of time every day making it difficult to predict when their battery will need changing.

3. Some people change the battery at regular intervals, once a week, once every two weeks whether the battery is dead or not. Usually a time period is chosen that is short enough, before the battery dies.