You’ve taken your audiologist’s advice and gotten a hearing aid.

You’ve stored your batteries to ensure it’s working properly.

What else is there to do?

If you don’t want to risk costly and unneeded damage to your expensive hearing aid, buying cleaning products are a good next step. Cleaning hearing aids is simple and easy, and there are a battery of products sold to help you keep your aid working properly. Dirt and sweat can have a severely negative effect on the functionality of your hearing aid, so follow these steps to make sure your aid stays clean:

• When you remove your hearing aids at night, wipe them down with a soft cloth.
• Pay careful attention to the portion that goes into the ear canal; if there is wax built up, use a manufacturer-provided tool to remove it.
• Place hearing aids back in their special cases to avoid accidental breakage
• Avoid using the hearing aid in situations where you are likely to get wet; water can severely affect the ability of your hearing aid to work.
• Ask your audiologist or hearing aid vendor about any additional steps that should be taken for your particular style of aid.

Hearing aids are extremely valuable and important. Don’t undermine this letting dirt and grime sap their ability to function properly.

Without properly functioning batteries, hearing aids are little more than extremely expensive earplugs.

The most common type of battery is known as “Zinc Air”. This type of battery is operated by the oxidation of zinc with the oxygen present in air around us. Because Zinc is readily available, these batteries are easily produced and retain terminal voltage until 80-85% depletion. Furthermore, they are easily stored and last a long time – provided the tab isn’t pulled.

Zinc-Air batteries for hearing aids come equipped with a tab, that, once pulled, will activate the battery and begin the process of depletion. When pulled, the tab allows water and oxygen in the air to mix with particles of zinc and an electrolyte (usually potassium hydroxide), forming zincate and releasing electrons. Once this process is started, the tab can’t be reattached, so it is best to keep tabs on until the battery needs to be used. Because t he tabs are held in place with sticky glue, they can come off in hot environments without the wearer knowing . It is generally not a very good idea to place these batteries in extremely hot environments for extended periods (for example in cars in the summer).

No matter your hearing aid, proper battery usage is crucial to maintaining good function.

More and more people are suffering from sensorineural hearing loss, and Tinnitus remains a common problem. Unfortunately, this means that a growing number of people are suffering from both.

Many people’s first step would be to consult an audiologist and ask for a hearing aid. The second being to ask whether it’s possible to mask the tinnitus as well.

Fortunately, thanks to technological improvements in the world of hearing loss, new hearing aids can also be used as Tinnitus maskers–a development which has great benefits for those forced to combat tinnitus and hearing loss simultaneously. They:

Are less expensive than buying both a hearing aid and a Tinnitus-masker

Allows the wearer to mask the Tinnitus and alleviate the hearing loss in the same ear; separate devices can only be worn one at a time

Come in the many varieties–from in-the-ear to behind-the-ear, like many other hearing aids.

The combination of a hearing aid that is also a tinnitus masker marks a big leap forward in hearing aid technology, and is recommended for those who have level 3 Tinnitus or higher. If the Tinnitus is at a lower level and/or there is no accompanying sensorineural hearing loss,  the device may not be necessary. The best option is to see an audiologist as well as an ENT to do what is best to improve your hearing.

So you’re travelling and brought your trusty hearing aid to help you out, but there is a problem. You go to the museum and hear the speakers describing an exhibition but at the same time you hear a lot of feedback–making it hard to understand what is going on.

There is a hearing aid accessory that’s a great tool to help you out with feedback–the neckloop.

The neckloop is a type of necklace-size loop of wire that can be plugged into an ALD or ALS receiver, a radio, TV, some computer speakers and some telephones. When worn around the neck of someone who has a hearing aid with a  telecoil, this little accessory helps clear inaudible sounds for the user.

To have it work properly, you need to turn on your telecoil and the neckloop will begin to create a small magnetic field while taking in “audible”  sound waves. The telecoil amplifies these “audible” signals for the hearing aid, making the sounds more audible and clear. The neckloop  has  some major advantages  and disadvantages:

Advantages:

• Since it uses a 3.5mm audio jack, it can plug directly into speakers, televisions, computers and other audio devices as well.

• They do help improve the audibility significantly.

• They have adjustable volume control.

• They are fairly well prices and not too expensive.

• Many public places are becoming more accessible to these hearing aid accessories.

Disadvantages:

• Even though it is becoming more accessible in the US, it still is not readily available in most places–this may take a few years.

• It only works if you have a telecoil.

• If you desire to have a larger, stronger neckloop, it will drain its own battery supply fairly quickly.

The neckloop is like any type of technology, while it helps, it still does have some drawbacks. However, it’s beneficial and helps immensly when combating hearing loss. Talk to your audiologist and see what benefit it can have for you. Don’t forget, the neckloop is not just a necklace, but a friend for you and your hearing aid.