Hearing aids play an important role in helping a person with hearing loss function better in every aspect of life. As a popular choice of hearing solution, hearing aids can be considered an investment. The price range of hearing aids varies depending on the brand, material, technology, power, etc., but one thing is for sure – you need to make an effort to ensure that your hearing aids will last.
In this blog post, we’ll share with you various factors that affect the lifespan of your hearing aids as well as tips on how you can take good care of these compact, highly-intelligent, delicate devices.
Proper Cleaning and Maintenance
Since hearing aids get in contact with skin and the inner parts of the ear, it is susceptible to moisture, sweat, dirt, etc.
Proper cleaning and maintenance of hearing aids will significantly help extend their life span. Clean your hearing aids before going to bed by wiping off any visible dirt with a soft, dry cloth.
Air-dry hearing aids after cleaning. The #1 enemy of hearing aids is moisture. It’s a big help to let hearing aids air dry for several hours (preferably throughout the night) and have the battery compartment open (if applicable).
If you see dirt or moisture build-up on parts of your hearing aid that you cannot seem to reach, bring your hearing aids to your hearing care provider for professional cleaning and maintenance.
Proper Handling and Usage
Hearing aids are subjected to wear and tear every day. Practicing proper handling and storage when the hearing aids are not in use can help determine how long your hearing aids will last.
When not in use, keep your hearing aids in a safe and dry place. Most hearing aids come with their own protective case (some may double as a charging case). Protective cases of hearing aids are designed to protect them from sudden impact or moisture. Some hearing aid cases also come with a built-in dehumidifier to ensure that any residual moisture will be gone.
Avoid putting hearing aids inside a pocket, pouch, or bag that may put these tiny gadgets in jeopardy of getting squished or broken.
Avoid dropping hearing aids at all costs. If possible, put on your hearing aids while sitting down so that in case you drop them, the distance from the floor will not put so much impact on the device.
Regularly change batteries
This is applicable to hearing aids that are powered by disposable batteries. Follow the manufacturer’s instructions when it comes to how long one set of batteries can be used.
Avoid using old batteries on your device to prevent sub-par performance. Make sure to put in the right battery size with the right voltage to avoid any detrimental effects.
Professional hearing aid repair and service
If you notice that your hearing aid is not working as it should, bringing it in for a professional checkup might be in order. Audiologists are trained and knowledgeable in checking hearing aids to accurately diagnose what could possibly be wrong with the hearing aid.
If you cannot seem to address the issue through basic troubleshooting, don’t attempt to fix it on your own. You must absolutely not tinker with the device, to the point of opening its screws, crevices, etc.
You might put your hearing device’s warranty at risk if you tinker with the hearing aid, so it’s best that you bring it to your hearing care provider for proper care, repair, and/or maintenance
Hearing Aid Maintenance and Repair | Austin, TX
RK audiology offers professional hearing aid maintenance and repair services in Austin, TX.
Contact us today to know more about our audiology services!
Got more questions about hearing aids? Ask an audiologist for expert advice!
Hidden hearing loss gains more attention day by day. However, most people have never heard of it. How does this curious condition work? And how does it change how we think about hearing?
How does hidden hearing loss differ from traditional hearing loss?
When we think of hearing loss, we’re often thinking of a loss of sound. If you’ve ever observed or taken part in a traditional audiogram, you know the test involves playing sounds at various pitches and volumes. The test subject must then indicate which sounds they heard by raising their hand or pushing a button.
The type of hearing loss revealed by this test happens because of damage to hairlike cells in the inner ear, aptly named hair cells or stereocilia. Here is how those cells come into play:
Sound waves enter the ear canal—the outer ear—and vibrate the eardrum.
In the middle ear, the eardrum creates a chain of vibration through three bones—commonly referred to as the hammer, anvil, and stirrup (or malleus, incus, and stapes)—that then passes into the inner ear, to the snail-shaped cochlea.
These vibrations enter the fluid-filled cochlea, where different frequencies determine which part of the cochlea the fluid vibrates.
The vibrations cause waves in the fluid, which move hair cells lining the cochlea, creating signals that travel through the auditory nerve and into the auditory centers of the brain.
If those cells are damaged, you lose hearing at a certain volume or perhaps just certain pitches, e.g, low tones or higher tones.
With hidden hearing loss, however, it is not the hair cells that are damaged, but cells in the brain itself. Imagine that you are trying to figure out a problem with your computer. After some tinkering, you discover that the fan isn’t working properly, or perhaps some wires have come loose. These are hardware issues, and damage to the outer, middle, or inner ear (where the hair cells are) works much the same way. However, your problem may be related to software. If something has damaged a piece of software on your hard drive, you may lose pieces of the data for that software, and that’s what is happening with hidden hearing loss.
An analysis of music shows that different parts of the brain light up for different aspects of music besides just tone and pitch, such as rhythm, memory, and emotion. Likewise, synapses—cells that bring information to different parts of the brain—are vital to the hearing process. If these synapses become damaged, the information often comes through incomplete, garbling the message.
Ultimately, this means a person might have no problem understanding someone during a conversation in a quiet room, but may struggle to hear in a noisy environment, such as a stadium full of a roaring crowd or even a busy restaurant.
Do I have hidden hearing loss? What can I do about it?
Since the term hidden hearing loss has only been around since 2009, and few people visit audiologists, it is very difficult to know how many people this condition affects. To complicate matters, testing for this kind of loss is still in the early stages. The Associated Press (AP) created a test in 2017; however, this is not a scientifically backed medical tool. Rather, this test provides an interesting look into how background noise affects hearing.
The test itself is a simple audio clip. It starts out with no background noise while a male voice comes on at intervals, telling the listener to repeat the sentences he says. “White” background noise is then introduced and increases every couple of phrases.
At first, the background noise sounds much like the inside of a car as it travels down a highway: soft, muted, and hazy; more an impression of noise than anything else. As the background noise increases, these impressions continue, resembling different environments or types of white noise: television static, rain, and others come to mind.
One assumes that with each increase, it will become more and more difficult to understand the phrases. However, response to the clip showed that people often missed phrases at random intervals—for example, missing one closer to the beginning and then having no trouble until later. This implies that hidden hearing loss is not a linear progression, and damage to these synapses affects very specific parts of the brain while not affecting others. This means testing will have to look for different criteria than traditional hearing tests.
It may be a while before we have effective tests for diagnosing this type of hearing loss, but you can still start managing this issue. Researchers are looking into treatments and you can do your own interventions, such as asking your conversation partners to talk slower (rather than louder), being strategic about where you sit in noisy environments, or getting set up with one of the many new technologies that incorporate background noise canceling and other methods.
Worried about your hearing? Ask an audiologist for a professional opinion.
Your audiologist can help you figure out the best interventions to manage your hearing loss and prevent it from getting worse. Schedule an appointment today!
Ear wax removal is an important part of hearing health, and here at RK Audiology, we’re stepping up our game with the new EarigatorTM from Nupurtech. This new piece of technology is easy to use, and a safer, more comfortable way to clean ears. Clients have even referred to it as an “ear spa.” Here’s a quick breakdown of this new technique.
How the EarigatorTM works
The EarigatorTM nozzle flushes body temperature water into the ear, dislodging impacted cerumen (earwax) that can cause hearing difficulties. The catch basin is shaped to fit snugly under the ear, preventing the removed earwax from getting on clients’ clothes, hair, or body. In addition, a smock is worn by the client during the procedure, which takes as little as five minutes.
Why the EarigatorTM is so effective at earwax removal
The EarigatorTM is part otoscope, part irrigator, allowing your audiologist a more accurate view as they are cleaning your ears. This is also helped by the LED light and magnifying glass attached directly to the nozzle.
The nozzle spray itself can be adjusted for both temperature and pressure, allowing the most comfortable experience for you, the client. It is made more comfortable by its simple and thoughtful design: a trigger nozzle to help the audiologist control the pressure more easily, a shield to reduce splashback, and a well-designed catch basin. These small, simple features make this the safest and most effective earwax removal technology available.
It’s so effective, it’s even used in emergency rooms.
Our new earwax removal procedure
At RK Audiology, we are always looking for the safest and most effective ways to serve our clients. The EarigatorTM has allowed us to create a more streamlined procedure that will continue to keep you safe and comfortable. We love feedback from our clients on how we can improve our services, so let us know what you think!
As always, we start with a sterile environment, following the latest CDC guidelines.
We begin by reviewing your ear health history with you – including discussing any history of pain or discomfort, and/or any previous ear surgeries. This is the perfect time to ask questions.
We use video otoscopy to view your ear canals and eardrums. With our large monitor, you will see what we see during your ear cleaning appointment.
The water is pre-prepped to a comfortable temperature.
We have you wear a smock and the water basin is placed in position under the ear to be cleaned.
The audiologist will check water temperature and begin the procedure, cleaning one ear at a time.
Once the procedure is complete, the audiologist will dry your ears and view both ears again using the video otoscope, giving you and the audiologist a ‘before’ and ‘after’ view.
The new year is already going strong, and to help you have more good things this year, we’re excited to tell you about the latest hearing technology we’ve added to our collection: the Oticon More™, the Phonak Paradise, and Phonak Virto Black. These three new hearing technology options are at the top of our 2021 list of hearing technology for better connections.
Oticon More™
The Oticon More™ was released at the beginning of the year and already shows promise. Since there is a strong link between hearing loss left untreated and a heightened risk of dementia, it’s clear that Oticon has used this knowledge to design a better device. This hearing aid carries 30% more sound to the brain, which means your speech understanding can increase as much as 15%. It also means reduced listening effort, making it easier for you to remember what is said. It has even been shown to reduce tinnitus for some wearers.
These hearing aids are well-connected to today’s technology. You can use them to stream directly from your smartphone or your TV (it comes with an adapter, so your TV doesn’t even have to be a specific type). You can also make hands-free calls through your smartphone.
Maintenance on this device is very user-friendly. It has its own app so you can discreetly adjust the controls on your hearing aids. It also has its own charger that gives you a full 24 hours of life, with an additional 6 hours using the 30-min quick charge feature.
Phonak Audéo™ Paradise
Phonak also understands that better speech understanding is key to designing effective hearing technology for better connections with its new Phonak Audéo™ Paradise. This device focuses on delivering crisper and more natural sound with its Speech Enhancer feature, which “boosts soft-level speech” in quiet environments or from a distance. It also uses a personalized approach with its Dynamic Noise Cancellation feature, which allows you to choose the amount of noise to filter when you are in various environments.
Audéo™ is also user-friendly by connecting to prominent technology like smartphones and Bluetooth® (you can even connect two Bluetooth® devices at the same time). In addition, this device has a voice assistant feature you can access with just a tap, allowing you to answer calls, stream music, and more. It also has its app to give you control over your device and connect with other amazing features.
Phonak Virto Marvel Black
In search of a style that looks just like a wireless earbud? We must mention the Virto Black. This fully connected, in-the-ear (ITE) hearing aid combines Marvel hearing technology with the style of a modern hearable. This 2020 “Best of CES” has a customized fit for your individual ears, a clear sound, connects to all your devices, and has a smart app that gives you quick, personalized, fine-tuning options.
At RK, we are always looking ahead to sharing more advancements in technology, and more ways to serve you better. Check our “Technology” page for more information on the latest technology at RK Audiology. Then check out our 3-minute online hearing test and schedule an appointment today!
Neuroscience is looking at sensory substitution to change the lives of people with varying levels of hearing loss. As we move into a new year, we are looking forward to how those with hearing loss might find other ways to receive information.
We’ve discovered how music can have a healing effect on the body, thanks to the interaction between the many parts of the ear and the brain. So, what happens if the part of the brain set aside for hearing was no longer used because someone has hearing loss?
Sensory Substitution and Reorganizing the Brain
We’ve already noted how the brain can reorganize and reassign areas of the brain from functions such as hearing to other functions such as vision or touch. This research is now being used to help those who are deaf or hard of hearing with a technique called sensory substitution. This technique gets around the loss of one sense, such as hearing, “by feeding its information through another channel, such as touch.”
This is not new. Sign language uses the hands to communicate, create shapes and movements – patterns – that provide input through our sense of sight. This communication method can even incorporate the sense of touch by having a person who is both deaf and blind use their hands to follow the patterns of the signer.
Now, neuroscientists have developed a new kind of technology, a vest loaded with multiple sensors along the torso that transmits information through the body to the brain using a set of spatiotemporal patterns that vibrate and ripple along the skin. These patterns can correspond to varying kinds of input, but they have mostly been used so far to communicate words and ideas, much like sign language does. If someone speaks to a deaf person wearing a vest, the sensors would translate the spoken words to patterns, and those patterns would communicate the information to the deaf person.
The best part about this technique is that it is non-invasive. Even better, this technology would be a fraction of the cost of surgical options such as cochlear implants, making it available to people worldwide.
Using Patterns to Communicate
Much like sign language, the vest uses patterns to communicate information. In this case, a set of sensors are placed along the torso on the back part of the vest. These sensors have been calibrated to make a kind of pattern that is spatiotemporal. This means that instead of each sensor vibrating separately, or sets of sensors vibrating simultaneously, the sensors are instead calibrated to vibrate in a movement, like a ripple or a wave that moves across the skin in various directions. They found this to be far more effective in transmitting the information than the static vibrations, either singular or in groups.
These patterns would work much like braille, which is to say that a person would come to subconsciously relate certain patterns with certain words without having to think about it. Early tests with one deaf person have already shown this to be the case, and the creators of the vest, David Eagleman and Scott Novice, are looking forward to more trials.
Plug-and-Play Organs and Our Limited Sensory Perception
To get a better idea of how this technique is viable, it helps to have an understanding of our sense organs. Sense organs shape the way we perceive the world. They receive and transmit input to the brain, where the input is processed into information that we use to learn, make decisions, and experience life. They are how we know and understand our surrounding reality. However, this reality is not as objective as we think it is.
The first thing to understand about sensory perception is that the organs we most connect to the senses – ears, eyes, nose, tongue, and skin – are incredibly limited in the data our brains receive from them. We cannot see the many types of light, electromagnetic, and radio waves that pass through the air. Some animals can see these but not others, such as snakes that can see some infrared light waves or honeybees that are able to see in the ultraviolet range. Our other sense organs are likewise limited; imagine having the nose of a bloodhound and being able to know there’s a cat somewhere a couple of blocks away or where another person has been all day by taking a deep whiff of the bottoms of their shoes.
So, when a person loses the function of one of these organs, it’s much easier to find a substitute for delivering certain kinds of input to the brain than you might think. They are more like plug-and-play devices for computers and video games, which can be replaced with another device as needed. Some of these devices need a software download, teaching the computer how to work with the new device. This is similar to how these plug-and-play sense organs work. If one of them stops functioning, the brain can reassign that area to something else, like heightening one’s vision or learning to work with this vest through touch.
In addition, sensory substitution, these neuroscientists believe, can eventually become sensory addition, adding new perceptions to our sensory experience. This can help with rehabilitative and assistive processes, as well as other forms of neural plasticity research and technology. That’s information worth sharing with everyone.
For more information on how hearing and the brain are related, follow our blog, follow the research, or make an appointment today. You can get started with understanding your own hearing in a socially distanced way by trying out our new 3-minute online hearing test. Here’s to a Happy New Year! Bring on 2021!!
Invisible Hearing Aids Get a Boost from Phonak with the Lyric4
Phonak Lyric™ invisible hearing aids are best known for their invisibility, comfort, and convenience. Now they’re creating a brand new gold standard with the launch of Lyric4.
If you are looking to level up your hearing aids, Phonak recently released the new Lyric4, and it is better than ever. It was already a 100% invisible hearing device, designed to be worn comfortably 24/7 for months at a time, stands up to showering and challenging environments, and is controlled with the SoundLync™ tool. Here are its newest features:
The smaller size has made this device more viable for people with smaller ear canals so that they can enjoy the convenience of having a 24/7 invisible hearing aid.
The LyricTM design uses the ear canal, rather than an outside device, to capture and process sound for a more natural hearing experience. The new Lyric4 has a more effective design for collecting debris and cerumen that interfere with the receiver. This allows it to prevent clogging between maintenance and fittings.
As you can see, Phonak has taken the Lyric™ invisible hearing aid to the next level. Check out their site for more information, or schedule an appointment today!
Bonus Tip: If you feel that your hearing has changed and/or if you are noticing more difficulties hearing in this day of masks and social distancing, prior to scheduling an appointment, check your hearing now at https://rkaudiology.com/online-hearing-test/
