Troubleshooting Steps For Hearing Aid Users
If you've invested in a state-of-the-art hearing aid, a sudden apparent failure in that device can cause considerable frustration. If you can't enjoy your favorite forms of entertainment or follow conversations like you once did, the following troubleshooting steps can help you figure out and resolve the underlying problem.
Step 1. Check Your Ears
A reduction in your hearing may lie with your ears, not with your hearing aid. Hearing aids have an unfortunate tendency to cause a buildup of earwax in some individuals. This earwax can block the movement of sound waves through the ear canal to the eardrum. Your doctor can remove the wax gently and safely.
If your hearing aid seems to operate normally and your ears don't suffer from wax buildup, you may need to consider the possibility that your hearing impairment has grown worse. Your audiologist can confirm such changes by retesting your hearing. You might need to switch to a more powerful or differently-tuned device.
Step 2. Change the Battery
If your hearing aid works fine for several days and then suddenly goes silent, you most likely have a dead battery that needs replacing. The tiny batteries that power hearing aids can run out of power within as little as three days' time. Moisture, constant usage of advanced features, and high altitude can accelerate the drain.
Adopt the habit of maintaining a few months' worth of replacement batteries for your hearing aid. Keep one or two batteries with you at all times in case you experience a failure while away from home. Keep your batteries away from moisture, handle them with clean hands, and note the expiration date on replacement batteries.
Step 3. Get the Hearing Aid Inspected and Fixed
Like any sophisticated, delicate electronic device, a hearing aid can suffer from internal problems that cause it to either work improperly or fail altogether. Watch for telltale trouble signs such as fluctuating volume levels, persistent whistling noises, and distortion of sounds that you can't trace to earwax buildup.
Your audiologist will inspect the device and may perform hearing aid repairs on the spot. Common examples of such repairs include disassembling and cleaning the device, adjusting or replacing the microphone, and attaching a different ear tube or earpiece.
With any luck, the steps listed above will guide you toward the most effective solution for your hearing aid issues. If you can't get a faulty or inadequate hearing aid to provide the hearing correction you need, consider starting over with a fresh evaluation from your audiologist and a brand-new device that gets the job done.
