Get Professional Help When Cleaning Hearing Devices

Hearing aids are wonderful devices which help us make the most of our world of sound. However, in order to help keep them functioning at their optimal level, we must take good care of them and perform routine maintenances and repairs. Even though you are provided with a cleaning kit when you get hearing aids, it is a good idea to let a professional clean your hearing aids once in a while.

While you can easily take care of daily maintenance and cleaning using your cleaning kit, there are times when you may not be able to provide the amount of deep cleaning required to get trapped earwax or debris out of your hearing aids. In this case, it may be important to hand over your hearing aids to your audiologist who is trained to handle the delicate inner workings of the hearing aids.

You can think of getting your hearing aids cleaned professionally as a trip to the dentist! Even though you may brush your teeth every day, you still need a professional to clean deep within your teeth once in a while to get rid of all the accumulated bacteria and food particles. Similarly, hearing aids also need equal care, if not more, since they are more prone to the wear and tear of daily life, having been positioned externally; this puts them in contact with sweat, moisture, dust, and other foreign particles which may cause damage.

Depending on the type of hearing aids you have and your own body chemistry, the frequency of professional cleaning sessions for your hearing aids may vary. On average, people get their hearing aids cleaned twice a year (or every six months), while some people may need to have them cleaned more often, as much as four times a year.

You may wonder what the difference is between a professional cleaning and a normal cleaning routine at home. Your audiologist has specialist equipment to help remove trapped foreign particles from deep within your hearing devices. Due to their professional training, they are able to do so without causing any damage to the hearing aids delicate circuitry. Even a slight mistake in handling hearing aids can cause them to malfunction or damage them permanently, this is why it is important to let the professionals handle the deep cleaning process.

There are times when your hearing aids may need to be handed over to the manufacturers for repair work, where they may be completely taken apart or replaced entirely. You would not know the difference between regular deep cleaning and the need for repairs unless you were a qualified hearing care professional. Your audiologist will be able to detect any possible damage and take steps to rectify it by either taking the hearing aid apart themselves or send it back to the manufacturer.

Hearing aids do not usually take long to clean by audiologists. You may need to wait only a couple of hours while your hearing aids are getting cleaned professionally. Only in rare cases would you be asked to leave your hearing aids overnight at your audiologist’s clinic.