Hearing aids have come leaps and bounds in advanced technology over the past decade, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t subject to malfunction from time to time.

The common signs that your hearing aids aren’t working properly can include:

• You're getting nothing out of them. You put them in your ear and you're not hearing properly.

• Feedback noises.

• No noise.

I find the biggest technical issue in hearing aids is sound quality. Sometimes you'll hear noises you weren't expecting to hear and whatnot. We can fix most jarring and sharp noises to be softer. Other issues are that you can’t stream your music or TV to the hearing aids, or the hearing aid app won't show on your phone. Sometimes you’ll need to buy an adapter to make your hearing aid stream to your hearing aids, such as Phonak’s TV Connector.

Here’s some steps to take if your hearing aids aren’t working properly.

It’s Important To Check The Battery

If you have a battery-charged hearing aid, the batteries might die while you're in the middle of an important meeting or at the movie theatre. Always have a backup pair of batteries on you, pay attention to when you put your new batteries in, and after a while you’ll have a rough idea of when they're about to die.

The newer hearing aids are pre-set to give you an audible warning in your ear when your battery is low, and you can customize the warning time.

Watch Out For Moisture

When sweat, earwax, or debris gets in the receivers and the microphones, it shorts out the electronics, and moisture makes that worse.

Moisture isn’t always the problem. Shampoo, suntan lotion, or the salt in your sweat can wreak havoc inside the hearing aid.

Also, hearing aids don't like extreme cold, so on those days here, you should probably not wear your hearing aids outside so they are not exposed to the moisture in the air. The same goes for extreme heat and humidity.

Too Much Earwax

Yes, earwax causes problems. It blocks sound in the same way putting your finger over the top of your hearing aid would. But because earwax is usually present in a small amount and moves around, you might hear sound well for two minutes and then it might sound bad, as the wax is moving around.

Hearing Feedback?

Feedback is not a problem if the hearing aids are fit properly and the right hearing aid is selected for the right patient – it’s the proper size for the ear with customized amplification. A lot of the time, feedback is a result of an improper hearing aid fitting.

All the hearing aid manufacturers will claim they can fit everybody and say their feedback programs are great, but when you run that feedback manager to get rid of the whistling, it turns the hearing aid down, making it not adequate for the wearer.

What If You Get Your Hearing Aids Wet?

A lot of hearing aids now have a certain water resistance, although they are not waterproof. If your hearing aids get wet, open up the battery door to dry them out. Putting them in a bowl of rice might work too.

But if you’ve tried drying them out and they’re still not performing, bring them in to us. We have a higher-powered dehumidifier here that sucks all the moisture out. If the aids haven't been sitting that long in water, usually nine times out of ten, we can bring it back to life.

Are The Volume Settings Correct?

Volume obviously plays a big part, but part of our job is to fine-tune the volume settings in a hearing aid because sometimes people only need more volume for, say, higher frequencies rather than all the volume raised up across the board.

The volume should be set based on your level and type of hearing loss, and if you’ve bought the wrong hearing aid and weren’t fitted for it, it might never fit your needs and cause problems.

Hearing aids aren't a one-day purchase and fit. You don't just go and buy them, get them fit, and that's it. That's why we like to book a hearing aid fitting and then do a follow-up, and then we try to see you every three months to make sure the hearing aid is fit properly.

If you’re not hearing right, you can let us know right away and we'll get you in to make the adjustments.

Do You Sleep With Your Hearing Aids In?

You can sleep with your hearing aids in, but you’re going to drain your batteries if you do. It's not the most comfortable thing on earth, but we do have some people who do, and they would rather just buy extra batteries and keep their hearing aids on 24/7 so they don’t miss the phone or an alarm. 

Still Having Problems?

Our support is part of the hearing aid package you bought, so please contact us and let us know if you’re having any problem at all with your hearing aids.

Book an appointment. We are always happy to see everyone, and it’s never a bother to help you. If you didn't, we would have nothing to do all day. We have lots of resources we can pull from, and if those don’t work, we can talk to the manufacturer.

The nice thing about where we are in Ontario is that a lot of the hearing aid manufacturers’ Canadian headquarters are within reach, so we always have access to someone who can come out and help. We will exhaust all our options until we get it right for you.

And if all else fails, we have multiple options for upgrading your current hearing aids.