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Welcome to ESCO’s Tips and Tricks Section! Here you will find all sorts of information about hearing loss and taking proper care of your hearing aids. Getting to know your hearing instruments…helpful information for first time wearers *Your hearing health care professional has the best information for care, and use of your hearing instruments…and this section is intended to be a review and supplementary to the information you have already been provided. It is also recommended that you carefully read the owners manual for your hearing aids, as care procedures can vary from hearing aid to hearing aid.
One of the most important factors that will determine how successful you will be with your hearing aids is the attitude that you bring to the process. Hearing aids do not work like corrective glasses, and with even the most precise fitting they are no match to the healthy unaided ear. Properly fitted hearing aids will significantly improve your ability to communicate in the areas that are most challenging for you, but a proactive and positive approach to adopting a complete communication strategy will be necessary to maximize the benefit you will receive from your hearing instruments. Work with your practitioner to develop a plan that works to best suit your communicative needs. It will take time for you to become acclimated to better hearing, and being an active and willing participant in the process goes a long way to assure that you will have success in the long run.
Wearing a hearing aid for the first time can be physically uncomfortable and difficult to get used to. The trick is perseverance. Begin by wearing them as long as possible and remove them once they begin to be uncomfortable, initially about 3-4 hours. It can be a lot like breaking in a new pair of shoes. In the same way you can get blisters from new shoes, sore spots in the ear canal can develop and become quite painful. You should be able to slowly increase the amount of time each day that you can comfortably wear the hearing aids until you are wearing them for all of your waking hours. If you experience acute discomfort while wearing your new hearing aids it is best to return to your hearing health care professional to have the fit professionally adjusted. Hearing aids, even though they are often custom fitted for your ears, often need to be physically adjusted for comfort.
TAKING THEM FOR AN EXTENDED TEST DRIVE Use your trial period wisely. This is the most important time to be actively part of the habilitation process. Try to get out and into all of the challenging listening situations that you can. Take yourself out to dinner at your favorite restaurant, go to church, go for a walk in the woods, whatever activities that you enjoy the most. First of all, you will want an idea of how your hearing aids are going to work for you in various listening environments, and secondly, any feedback you can give your practitioner about how they are working will help determine what adjustments should be made to maximize the benefit they deliver. You must remember, however, to be patient. Be realistic with your expectations and consider the fact that some places like busy restaurants and churches with poor acoustics are difficult for people with normal hearing to communicate in. Also keep in mind that the more experience you gain through wearing your hearing aids on a daily basis will improve how you do in your most challenging situations.
Slowly increasing the amount of time each day you wear your new hearing aids sounds easy enough…that is, of course, if you are able to put them in your ears in the first place! There are several techniques that can be used to insert and remove the style of hearing instrument you have, but here are a couple of basic techniques:
It is worth it to spend an hour, or even a few hours when you first get your hearing aids to practice putting them in and taking them out. Once you have some practice it will be as easy as putting on a pair of glasses! *Here’s a tip: If you are having trouble getting your hearing aids in your ears, try using a very small amount of non-greasy lubricant that you can get from your hearing health professional. THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF SOUND...AND THE FRUSTRATING WORLD OF NOISE Hearing loss, for the most part, happens slowly over the period of many years. You probably didn’t notice how much you were missing until the problem started to interfere with hearing well in your everyday interactions. When you have to keep turning up the television, or you start avoiding going out to eat, or going to church because you can’t hear well when there is background noise. It was probably the frustration from these situations that motivated you to get help for your hearing loss. So now you are fit with your hearing aids and all of sudden the wonderful world of sound that you have been missing comes back to life, which to begin with, can be quite overwhelming. Sure you can hear conversations better and the birds singing in the morning, but you are also hearing all sorts of noise like the refrigerator when it clicks on, or the wind noise when you are driving in your car. Slowly acclimating to the world of sound will give you the best chance for success in doing well with your hearing aids. Don’t be discouraged if your ears “get tired” and show symptoms of fatigue. You will need to learn to pay attention to the things you want to hear and ignore noise and distractions, and initially that is going to take a lot of work. Simply take them out and give yourself a break if you become overwhelmed. Before you know it you will be comfortable wearing them all day. *Here’s a tip: If your hearing aids have multiple programs, practice becoming proficient at switching between them. That way when you are in a challenging listening situation you can cycle through the different programs to find out which one works the best for you in that environment. It can be helpful for your hearing health care professional if you make notes about how your hearing aids work in different situations. The observations you make can help your practitioner make the adjustments to maximize the benefit you will get out your hearing aids
Knowing how to operate your hearing aids, wearing them everyday, and taking good care of them are all important in ensuring that you will get the most out of your investment. Taking good care of them and having them professionally cleaned at least annually will help keep them from breaking down and saving you from costly out-of-office repairs. Knowing what warranty and insurance coverage that the manufacturer has included, and when that expires, is vitally important. You will want to know what options you have to extend that coverage once the original manufacturer policy expires. It is a good idea to have your hearing health care practitioner check the aid thoroughly before coverage expires so that any necessary repairs can be addressed. Most practitioners will schedule an end of warranty appointment right at the time of the fitting, or send a reminder out a few weeks before your policy expires to discuss options. Once the original warranty expires it is important to know all of your options for extending your coverage. Most people assume that their hearing aids are covered through their homeowner’s insurance policy; however, the vast majority of policies will not cover hearing aids. With fewer and fewer carriers offering homeowners insurance, it is difficult to even find a good policy these days. A special rider can be written and attached to the homeowner’s policy, however, keep in mind that claims against that rider can count against your homeowner’s policy. Rather than risking your overall policy if you need to make a claim on your hearing aid, it might be worth it to check into obtaining coverage elsewhere. It is a good idea to consult your insurance agent to find out all of the details before you make a final decision.Here are a few tips: Check out the variety of coverage plans offered by ESCO. CLICK HERE to find out more and get a quote on coverage for your hearing aids. ESCO also offers a free postcard service to remind you when your warranty will expire. CLICK HERE to send yourself a reminder postcard!
TIPS FOR TAKING CARE OF YOUR HEARING AID Hearing aids take a lot of abuse with daily use. In-the-ear hearing aids are especially susceptible to the corrosive effects of moisture and wax. Your hearing healthcare professional will go over any specific cleaning instructions for your hearing aids. Here are a few simple tips that can keep your hearing aids in good repair. -Open the battery door each night after you use your hearing aids to make certain the aid is off and not draining the battery. It also helps dry the aid out and reduce moisture build up. *Here is a tip: Using a dry storage kit is HIGHLY recommended to keep your hearing aid working like new. While you sleep, it removes moisture, dries earwax, kills germs, and deodorizes your hearing instruments. Results include: Fewer repairs ***ESCO policy holders qualify for 10% off the purchase of a Dry and Store hearing aid conditioner. -Clean your hearing aids before you use them every day. Use the small brush that was supplied with your hearing aid and avoid cleaning it in the bathroom where they can fall into the sink or onto the hard tile floor. Make sure to store your hearing aids and batteries in a safe place that is well out reach of pets and children.
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