5 Tips for Wearing Your Hearing Aids in Winter

Dropping temperatures can affect your hearing aids! Impending cold weather calls for a bit of extra protection for your hearing aids, and also your hearing in general. Follow these simple tips to help your hearing aids (and your ears!) stay safe this winter:

• Don’t forget! Use memory settings on your hearing aids for noise reduction. Repeated exposure to noise levels over 85 dB, can cause permanent hearing loss. Snow blowers and snow mobiles can produce sounds over 100 dB, which is well over the safe limit. Hearing aids will amplify the sounds in your environment, so it’s important to make sure the memory settings are adjusted accordingly. Be sure to consult your Audiologist about memory settings on your hearing aids that are meant for noise reduction.
• Sport some ear muffs. Noise reduction earmuffs have been proven to reduce noise as much as 30 dB, so they’re highly useful if your hearing aids don’t have memory settings and you need to do work outside with loud equipment.
• Don’t sweat it. Invest in a pair of sweat bands. Your behind-the-ear hearing aids can be exposed to moisture resulting from perspiration, which can be damaging. Hearing aid sweatbands can reduce this moisture and most of them are washable and re-useable.
• Keep batteries dry at all times. Ensure that the battery compartment is free of moisture. Before you turn off your hearing aids when you go to bed at night, carefully remove the batteries and wipe the compartment thoroughly using a dry, warm cloth before returning them to the case.
• De-humidify your hearing aids. Hearing aid de-humidifiers will help extend the life of your device. Moisture can be removed while you sleep overnight, so they’ll be ready to go when you wake up!