- Updating your hearing aids is often needed as your hearing, lifestyle, or technology changes over time.
- Regular maintenance, cleanings, and hearing evaluations help keep your devices working at their best.
- Working closely with your audiologist ensures your hearing aids stay in the optimal “sweet spot.”
Prescriptive hearing aids require an adjustment period after the initial fitting. Not only do your ears physically need to adapt to having something in them for 10–12 hours a day, but your brain needs to relearn to hear sounds that you have been missing for a significant amount of time.
Because of this, you will have multiple follow-up visits with your audiologist to allow them to make programming changes based on your brain’s needs and listening preferences. After these first few appointments, though, you and your audiologist will find your hearing aid “sweet spot.”
This is when you barely notice the hearing aids are in your ears and have a significant improvement in your quality of life, and even better, with zero complaints.
How Often Should Hearing Aids Be Checked?
After this “sweet spot” is reached, you may go months or a year without seeing your audiologist. This is especially true if you are independent in managing your technology and hearing health journey. This raises the question, though—when should you return to the office to update your hearing aids?
Our office has a general rule of thumb that your hearing aids should be checked quarterly. This means every three months, you should bring the devices in for a deep cleaning and part change. We have extra domes, wax guards, and retention locks that we can provide, as well as hearing aid brushes and vacuums to reach all the small cracks and openings.
If you feel that you can do these cleanings yourself at home, then we recommend at a bare minimum you return annually for an updated hearing evaluation. These rules are simply for general maintenance, though.
What happens if your hearing, lifestyle, or that “sweet spot” changes? How do you determine if the hearing aid programming needs to be modified? This article will discuss what to pay attention to when determining if your hearing aids need to be updated.
Changes in Hearing Acuity
The first thing you should pay attention to is whether you think your hearing acuity has changed or not. This often presents as your hearing aids not working as well, you struggling to hear your wife or children when you used to understand them perfectly, the hearing aids sounding muffled, or you consistently turning up the volume of the television or car radio.
Hearing acuity can decline over time and can happen for various reasons. The general aging process is highly associated with a decline in hearing—our ears age with the rest of our body. It can also happen with significant changes in health. Diabetes, strokes, high blood pressure, and head injuries can also significantly change your hearing. These can also change your word understanding ability.
This is why we recommend annual hearing evaluations. Documenting hearing loss over time allows us to monitor the status of your ears, ensure there is a known reason behind the change, and rule out other medical concerns. Once the hearing evaluation is updated, the hearing aid programming can be readjusted to meet the new prescriptive targets and hopefully eliminate the concerns that brought you back into the office.
Lifestyle Changes That Affect Hearing Aid Performance
Another common reason that hearing aids need to be updated is to meet lifestyle changes. You may have had a recent job change where you are constantly having virtual meetings and are struggling to hear over the computer speakers, or you may have taken up a new hobby, playing basketball, and cannot hear your teammates in the loud, reverberant gymnasium.
With changes in your daily lifestyle come changes in your hearing aid needs. Depending on your hearing aids, your audiologist may be able to add additional programs for these new environments. Frequently used hearing aid programs include restaurant, meeting, outdoors, music, or car. These programs can often be activated through the physical button or switch on your hearing aids or through the hearing aid app downloaded on your smartphone.
Other common changes that can be made include increasing the amount of noise reduction or changing the directionality of the hearing aid microphones. In order to make the appropriate changes, though, your audiologist needs to be aware of your new listening environments, which requires an in-office visit.
When Technology or Style Needs to Change
Your hearing aids may not need a programming change, but a physical one instead. This is based on the hearing aid style or technology you are currently wearing. There are many styles of hearing aids: some sit behind the ear with a rubber ear tip or custom earmold, some fill the entire ear canal and concha bowl, and some fit deep within the ear canal and are essentially invisible.
Deciding which hearing aid style is best for you is typically based on your wants and needs, as well as your hearing loss degree and configuration. For example, when you first purchased your hearing aids, you may have been the perfect candidate for in-the-ear hearing aids. After a year, if your hearing loss has progressed significantly, this may mean that the style of hearing aid is no longer able to meet prescriptive targets.
Sometimes your hearing loss remains stable, but what you once used the hearing aids for is no longer true. If you recently got a new job that relies on virtual meetings and phone calls, direct streaming capabilities may become a new must-have feature.
There are also cases where nothing has changed, but manufacturers have released better technology. Newer hearing aids offer features such as rechargeability, hands-free phone calls, streaming of music and podcasts, and better speech understanding in background noise. Some hearing aids even include step trackers or fall detectors.
If you are unsure whether your technology is the newest and best available, ask your audiologist. They can discuss what technology has just been released and whether your current devices are still the best option for you.
What to Expect at a Hearing Aid Update Appointment
When you decide to schedule an in-office visit for hearing aid updates, what should you expect? In every office it varies, but it often starts with a conversation describing what you have been experiencing. This is a time for you to be open and honest, as professionals can only help as much as you let them.
Once your main concerns and goals are voiced, the hearing healthcare professional will often clean and listen to your hearing aid through their listening scope. This can help determine whether the hearing aid is functioning properly or needs repairs. More often than not, when a hearing aid sounds muffled, the wax filter needs to be replaced.
The professional may also change the size and style of the rubber ear tip to better meet your needs. If further changes are needed, the audiologist will connect your hearing aids to the programming software. During programming changes, they may ask for feedback to determine benefit, similar to choosing between lenses at an eye exam.
If significant programming changes are made, real ear measurements may be repeated. These measurements ensure the hearing aids are properly fit to both your hearing loss and ear anatomy. If needed, assistive listening devices such as microphones, TV streamers, or phone clips may also be discussed.
Enjoying Better Hearing For Long Term
Hearing aids can change lives, especially when programmed into that “sweet spot.” It is important to remember, though, that as a hearing aid wearer, you have to take some responsibility for your hearing health journey. The average lifespan of a hearing aid is four to five years, but this can be extended through good use and maintenance of the devices.
Regular cleanings, routine hearing evaluations, and timely updating your hearing aids help ensure you continue hearing clearly and comfortably as your life and hearing needs evolve.
If you think your hearing aids may no longer be meeting your needs, scheduling a visit with your audiologist is the best next step.
