Hearing Aid Care & Maintenance

Caring for your hearing aids is not only important — it’s necessary.

Without proper care and maintenance, your hearing aids can easily be damaged by earwax, dirt, and moisture buildups. Luckily, hearing device maintenance is relatively easy to perform. It can extend the life of your hearing aids, which is typically between five and seven years, and improve their overall performance.

Tips for Good Hearing Device Care

Clean your hearing aids daily.

Dirt, earwax, dust, and moisture can quickly build up on your hearing aids, making daily cleanings a must. Nighttime cleanings are best, so contaminants don’t have time to settle in during the hours that your hearing aids are out of your ears. To clean the devices, wipe down their exteriors as well as inside their battery compartments with a soft, dry cloth. Avoid using water or any cleaning products, as these can cause damage.

Store your hearing devices safely.

You will probably remove your hearing aids from time to time during the day as well as at night while you sleep. When this happens, it’s important to store the devices carefully in their case or in some other protected location to avoid exposing them to moisture, dirt, and dust. By making safe storage a habit, you can extend the life and improve the functionality of your hearing devices.

Invest in cleaning accessories.

Manually cleaning your hearing aids is important, but there are also several accessories to make daily cleanings faster, easier, and more effective. Talk to your audiologist at Central Oregon Hearing Aid Center about dehumidifiers, cleaning kits, and other accessories that can help keep your hearing aids looking and working like new.

Open the battery compartments at night.

The benefits of keeping your hearing aids’ battery compartments open at night are twofold: you will extend the life of your batteries while also helping reduce the buildup of earwax and moisture in your hearing devices. After you clean out the battery compartments of your devices with a cloth, leave them open until it’s time to reinsert your hearing aids.

Schedule regular maintenance appointments with your Bend or Redmond audiologist.

Even the most attentive hearing aid wearers can’t keep their devices clean forever, so occasional professional cleanings are also vital to keeping your hearing aids in excellent working order. At these appointments, which should be scheduled once every few months, your audiologist in Bend or Redmond will check that your devices are working properly and clean out hard-to-reach areas of the hearing aids using specialized tools and equipment.