Fixing your own hearing aid
May 02, 2022
- Battery – dead, dying – The first and easiest way to fix your hearing aids is to replace the battery with a new fresh battery. Your hearing aid will either not work or work poorly sometimes looking like other issues.
- Earwax hook – clogged with wax, water – if you try a new battery and that does not fix your hearing aid, with the new battery in your aid, next you should just unscrew your hear hook and hold your hearing aid in your closed hand. If you hear it screeching you know your problem is in your ear hook or sound tube or tip. It is usually easiest to replace your tub and tip available for about $1 on hear-better.com To clean the ear wax from your ear hook just take some heavy fishing line and run it through the ear hook from the ear tube side to the hearing aid side. You might find that a small plastic wax filter comes out too. The best way to repair this issue is to replace the ear hook.
- Earwax tip – wax, unclog – A very common issue. You can use thick fishing line or a cleaning tool to remove ear was. Usually, it is just easier to replace the tip and tube.
- Earwax filter – remove replace – many hearing aids have wax filters so your ear wax does not get into your hearing aid which would destroy them. In-ear hearing aids have a white filter right where the tip attaches to your hearing aid. Behind the ear hearing aids have the wax filter in the ear hook. You can replace the ear hook which is recommended or you can remove your ear hook from your hearing aid and use the thick fishing line through the ear side of your hook pushing out the filter. Without the filter your hearing aid may work better than ever but you run the risk that over time (a year or two) of getting ear wax in your hearing aid destroying your hearing aids.
- Battery connectors dirty – Over time hearing aids battery connectors get dirty. You can use a Q-tip with a little hand sanitizer on it to swab off the connecters and battery compartment.
- Battery connectors (contacts) bent down – After time battery contacts bend down and need to be bent upwards again to contact their battery. Use a small flat head screwdriver to very genteelly and slightly bend up the two connectors. Do not ben them up very much. It is better to make a few small changes then on too large. If you do bend them too far you can use needle nose plyers to bend it back down. Squeeze the connector down towards the side of your hearing aids.
- Water – dry out – If your hearing aid gets wet it may stop working. Water can clog your ear hook, sound tube or tip. Remove your sound hook, tube an tip, open the battery door and remove the battery (water will make your battery rust) and put them all in a warm but not hot area for a day or two to allow them to dry out.
- Internal issue – could just be a dying battery – many times a dying battery will look (hearing aid making abnormal sounds) like internal electrical issues. Try a new battery first.
- Broken wire – some behind the ear units have wires running from the main unit to a speaker in the earpiece. If the wire is broken it is usually best to replace the hearing aid unless a replacement wire is available.
- Wrong battery type – Many times people mistake size 312 batteries for size 13 batteries. The size 312 batteries will fit almost perfectly in the size 13 battery door but since they are not quite as tall the hearing aid will not work.
- Broken battery door – a broken battery door (hinge) sometimes will not allow a battery to seat right in the battery compartment and the hearing aid will not work. Sometimes you can properly seat the door and that will make the unit work. The best idea is to replace the battery door.
- Dislodged battery door – sometimes a battery door can pop off its hinge. To fix this put the door in the hearing aid properly and a little pressure to the battery door above the hinge and hinge will pop back on its hinge pin.
- Dying battery make act strange – a dying battery can make a hearing aid work strangely. If your hearing aid is not working properly try a fresh battery.
- Kinked tube – on BTE hearing aids tubes can get kinked. If this happens you will have little to no sound coming through your hearing aid. Best to just order a replacement tube.
- Tube too long – if your sound tube is too long your hearing aid will not stay on your ear. Most non-open-fit tubes are made to be cut to size. Too long of a tube can also cause a kink that can stop sound from coming through your sound tube.