Hearing Aid’s Number One Enemy, Part 1

When considering purchasing a hearing aid, one of the most important aspects you should consider is the service provided with your purchase. All hearing aids sound really good when they are new. Then people are surprised that the quality of sound doesn’t last or quite often their hearing aid stops performing altogether. So what could cause a hearing aids performance to diminish or even stop altogether?

Consider where you wear your hearing aid. If you have a behind-the-ear model it will rest behind your ear, next to your skull and your ear flap. From the part sitting behind your ear there is a piece of tubing or wire that comes around the top of your ear flap down into your ear canal. If you wear an in-the-ear hearing aid, then you have the complete devise fitting inside the ear canal.

A hearing aid’s public enemy number one is cerumen or ear wax. It is very important that you remove or have removed any excessive ear wax before you insert any hearing aid mold or hearing devise into your ear. Look into the part of your hearing aid where the sound comes out of the device into your ear. The first thing you will notice is that the sound outlet is very small. Because of the size of the outlet, it takes very little wax to partially or completely block the sound outlet. When ear wax partially blocks the outlet you will still hear amplification usually from the lower tonal range. What you will be missing is the clarity or high frequency tones. You will notice sounds seem loud but the meaning and clarity of words is diminished from when the hearing aid was new. (Continued in Part 2)

Share and Enjoy: