As we are enjoying these beautiful summer days, we want to make sure to provide a few hearing device reminders, in the event you too are running into these issues.
Warm, humid summer days result in hearing device failure for several reasons:
You have more wax build-up in your ears. Remember your outer ear canals actually have sweat glands that aide in wax production. Warmer weather means you are sweating more, (yes, even in your ears) and possibly producing more wax! If you are prone to wax build up, call our office to make an appointment to have it removed. This reduces the chance of it not only clogging your ears, but clogging your hearing devices.
You have more wax clogging your hearing device(s). More wax in your hearing device will partially or fully clog it, resulting in reduced or no volume from your speakers. Change your wax filters more frequently than we discussed in the office, or come in for a clean-and-check on any Thursday Curbside Hour 11am-12noon and we will give it a thorough cleaning for you and make sure all components are working optimally. You may also schedule an appointment for a full hearing aid check if does not come back to life after changing the filter.
There is more moisture building up in the hearing device(s). Warm humid days can result in more moisture build up in the actual structure of the hearing devices, resulting in damage to the internal components. This can result in microphone and/speaker failure, fast battery drain, among other issues. A good (and inexpensive) way to mitigate these issues is making sure you use a dehumidifier nightly, especially in the summer. We supply dehumidifier pods for rechargeable hearing aids, or dehumidifier cases for all other devices. Please call/email with orders. If you are a snow bird, make sure you take a dehumidifier pod or case with you to those warmer, more humid destinations. Most importantly, get an appointment with us so that we can run your hearing aids in our Redux machine, a professional drying system to remove all the moisture in your hearing aids in a matter of minutes. We can even show you how much water the system removed.
Muffled hearing related to mask use. We are getting many comments on how hearing in public is challenging with mask use. Masks, depending on the kind used, can reduced high frequency speech (which is critical to speech understanding) by 5-10 decibels! We can create a mask program to counter this decibel drop if you need one. Please call and schedule an appointment if you need this kind of reprogramming appointment. (609) 896-5870.
Finally, we hope you are taking some time to go on walks, look up at the sky, and take in all the sights and sounds of the last weeks of summer.