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Understanding how to check hearing aids are working is crucial to ensure you can enjoy living a normal life. Simple checks help your hearing significantly.

After a hearing test, you may find that you need hearing aids as a result of hearing loss to greatly improve your quality of life, making hearing effortless again.

Relying on your hearing aids to work correctly is crucial to ensuring that you can go about your daily life as normal as possible. Therefore, it is important to make sure that your hearing aids are working correctly. The sound quality is crucial to ensure that you get the absolute best from your hearing aids.

So, checking that your hearing aids are working correctly regularly and understanding how to check hearing aids is an important part of owning them.

Despite this, there are common hearing aid problems that you can check for.

Are The Hearing Aids Working Correctly? 

Wearing a hearing aid is a part of everyday life for many, it enables you to join in conversations, socialise and enjoy life in a way that feels completely normal. Despite this, there are common problems to look out for including blocked microphone ports, blocked wax filters, hearing aid batteries failing or faulty volume control. However, we can help you understand how to check hearing aids are working as a part of your ongoing maintenance.

Common Problems To Check For 

There Is No Sound

Clear Ear Wax

While there is the potential to have a problem with your hearing aid, the first thing to check is whether you have a build-up of earwax in your ear canals. This could be blocking the receiver/speaker and/or the tube on older classic hearing aids, causing a temporary loss of sound. When your ear canals have excessive earwax it can cause your hearing aids to whistle and your hearing aids will reduce the volume to prevent them from whistling, this coupled with your blocked ears will mean your hearing aids will perform really poorly. You can replace the wax filter provided by your hearing care professional or use a cleaning tool to remove the build-up of wax from your classic ear mould tube. If this has no effect, then you should book in to see your audiologist as soon as possible to have the excess earwax removed.

Battery Check 

All types of hearing aids will rely on batteries. So check the battery is fitted correctly before closing the battery door. If the door doesn’t close, then the battery is upside down. If the battery is correctly fitted, then you might need to replace the battery. For rechargeable hearing aids you can unplug all the cables from the charging unit and plug them back in as they can build up a carbon film sometimes preventing them from charging.

Volume Check

If there is a very little sound, then you might need to turn the volume up. It’s a simple check but so obvious that many people overlook it. Adjust the hearing aid as necessary to find out what works best for you. If you find yourself turning up your hearing aids regularly then you

should book in with your audiologist to re-test and recalibrate your hearing aids.

If the volume is too low and you find that loud and noisy settings are difficult to keep up with then you could be experiencing low volume problems.

In the same way, as you would if there was no sound, a decrease in volume could mean checking the volume as well as other settings. Check the earmold and tubing for further wax build-up and try turning the volume to its maximum to see if the program has been changed to an alternative. The earmold and tubing should be intact though, so it is worth bearing this in mind.

Distorted Sound 

It’s not just about the volume because the quality of sound is also imperative. Whether you have a Phonak, Widex, Oticon, GN, Starkey hearing aid, the right quality will ensure you can listen, communicate, and participate. Despite this, the distorted sound could mean that there is a problem, and this is often why you should see your audiologist and have your hearing re-tested and hearing aids repaired.

Replace The Batteries 

If the sound is distorted, then your hearing aid batteries could be out of date and need replacing. Batteries will only last so long and they are prone to corrosion. Once replaced, check the sounds although it could help to have your hearing care professional give the battery contacts a clean.

Low Volume Or Change Settings 

Distorted sound can also be caused by low volume or a change in the settings. Try toggling between programs if possible, to see if any of them work.

Whistling And Feedback 

During a conversation or while listening, whistling and feedback can be extremely problematic. The sounds can reduce sound quality but there are checks you can carry out when understanding how to check hearing aids are working.

Insert Your Hearing Aid Correctly 

Try reinserting the hearing aid correctly as incorrect fitting can cause problems. Think about how your hearing healthcare provider taught you to fit them in your ears and try it again. Beckenham Hearing will always recommend custom tips which acoustically optimises your hearing aids to get the best out of your devices.

Reduce The Volume 

High volume does not mean good quality and feedback can be heard at high volumes. A simple solution is to attempt to reduce the volume to find out if the feedback stops.

Still Experiencing Problems? 

If you have attempted to solve the problems with the fixes above then it could be time to return to your hearing clinic. You might require a new hearing test or new hearing aids. However, you must make sure your hearing aid works correctly in order to enjoy a normal a life where you can enjoy interacting and listen to friends and family without struggling.

Need Help With Your Hearing Aids? 

If your hearing aids still aren’t sounding quite right, you may benefit from a professional fine-tuning session to make sure everything is working perfectly for your hearing needs. Visit our hearing aid fine-tuning page to learn more or request a callback and our team will be happy to help you get the best performance from your devices.