Try This if Your Hearing Aids Are Beginning to Sound Weak

You just exchanged the batteries, but your hearing aids still don't sound the way they should. Things just sound off, like they're a little muffled and distant. It's like you aren't hearing the full sound you're supposed to be receiving. When you research the situation, a low battery seems to be the most likely cause. Which frustrates you because you charge the batteries every night.

But here you are with a group of friends and you can't quite hear their conversation. This is exactly the situation you got hearing aids to avoid. Before you get too aggravated with your hearing aids, there's one more cause for this diminished sound you might want to check: your own earwax.

A Home in Your Ears

Your hearing aids reside in your ear, in most cases. Even when you wear an over-the-ear design, there's at least contact with your ear canal. And for optimal performance, other versions have been designed to be placed directly in the ear canal. Wherever your hearing aid is situated, it will encounter an ever-present neighbor: earwax.

Earwax Guards

Now, earwax does lots of great things for the health of your ears (numerous studies have demonstrated that earwax ,in fact, has anti-fungal and antibacterial qualities that can help stave off numerous infections). So earwax can actually be a positive thing.

But hearing aids and earwax don't always get along quite as well–the moisture in earwax, in particular, can impact the standard operation of hearing aids. The good news is, this isn't really a surprise to hearing aid makers and earwax doesn't usually move in unpredictable ways.

So modern hearing aids have shields, called wax guards, designed to stop earwax from impacting the general function of your device. And the "weak" sound might be brought about by these wax guards.

Things to Know About Wax Guards

A wax guard is a small piece of technology that is incorporated into your hearing aid. The concept is that the wax guard lets sound to go through, but not wax. Wax guards are indispensable for your hearing aid to continue working properly. But issues can be caused by the wax guard itself in certain circumstances:

• Your hearing aid shell is dirty: And let's not forget your hearing aid shell, which also has to be cleaned when you switch out your wax guard. If your hearing aid shell is plugged with earwax, it's possible some of that wax may find its way into the inside of the device while you're changing the guard (and, obviously, this would impede the function of the hearing aid).
• You've replaced your wax guard with the incorrect model: Every model and maker has a different wax guard. Sound that is "weak" can be the result if you get the wrong wax guard for your model.
• Cleaning your earwax guard needs to be done once each month: it's been too long since you last cleaned them. Much like any filter, a wax guard can eventually become clogged with the very thing it's been tasked with eliminating. Every now and then, you'll need to clean the guard or the wax stuck in it will start to block sound waves and mess up your hearing.
• A professional clean and check is needed: In order to be sure that your hearing aid is functioning correctly, it should be cleaned once every year. You should also think about having your hearing checked on a regular basis to be certain your hearing hasn't changed at all.
• It's been too long since the wax guard has been replaced: Like any other filter, sooner or later the wax guard will no longer be able to adequately perform its job. A wax guard can only be cleaned so much. You may need to get a new wax guard when cleaning no longer works (in order to make this smoother, you can purchase a toolkit made specifically for this).

If you buy a new hearing aid guard, it will most likely come with instructions, so it's a good idea to follow those instructions the best you can.

After I Switch Out my Earwax Guard

You should observe substantially improved sound quality once you switch your wax guard. Hearing and following conversation should get much easier. And if you've been dealing with inferior sound from your hearing aids, this can be quite a relief.

Similar to any complex device, hearing aids do require some regular maintenance, and there is certainly a learning curve involved. So don't forget: if your hearing aid sounds weak and your batteries have a full charge, it might be time to replace your earwax guard.