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Hearing aids can quite easily be damaged due to their small size and the fragile components that make up the unit. If you experience damage on your hearing aids, then it’s a good idea to speak with your audiologist in order to get a replacement or to have it fixed.
There are several issues you may come across as your devices begin to age, including the following six.
1. Damaged Ear Hook
The hook that fits around your ear may become damaged due to how fragile the component is. If this is the case, then replacement hooks are available, but you may need to get the entire unit depending on the type of hearing aid that you’re using. This only applies to hearing aids that use behind-the-ear styles as smaller in-ear hearing aids do not use these hooks.
2. Damaged Speaker
A damaged speaker is quite common in fragile hearing aids. A damaged speaker will mean that you’re not able to hear sounds no matter how high you put the volume up, and it means that your hearing aid won’t function properly. Luckily, in some cases, a damaged speaker could, in reality, be a switched profile or a mistuned hearing aid.
3. Damaged Microphone
Similar to a damaged speaker, a broken microphone means that your hearing aid won’t be picking up any noises from around you and will fail to amplify the sounds, rendering your hearing aid useless. A damaged hearing aid microphone will likely need a replacement of the microphone, but in some cases, you may be able to find replacement parts if your audiologist stocks them.
4. Broken Buttons
Some larger hearing aids will come with buttons that change profiles, the volume or other settings. If these are damaged, then it could compromise the functionality of your hearing aids, causing problems in the future. Broken buttons are a hardware issue and there could be a number of different issues. For instance, it might be caused by the circuits themselves failing, or it could be caused by a physically damaged button.
5. Clogged Hearing Aid
Since hearing aids need to go into your ear, there’s a good chance that they’ll pick up lots of earwax and dirt. This can cause your hearing aids to get clogged which results in poor sound quality or even a broken hearing aid. This is something that can easily be repaired by your audiologist since all they need to do is clean it out for you.
6. Worn Out Earmold
Special hearing aids are made to fit their user’s ear. If your earmold starts to wear out and needs to be replaced, then you’ll have to get new pieces made and will require the help of your audiologist.