Hearing Aid Life Expectancy
Why would one hearing aid last longer than another?
My uncle’s hearing aid lasted 8 years, but my dad’s only lasted 4 years, why?
They're many factors to hearing aid life expectancy being short and just like any product that we use on a daily basis, the better care of your hearing instruments the longer they'll last.
Wear and Tear
The most common reason hearing aid life expectancy will be cut short is the amount of usage it gets. Are you wearing your hearing aids 8 hours a day (average) or 12+ hours a day? It’s similar to driving a car or watching a TV. The more you use it the less time or the fewer years it will last. This also ties into our next topic, wax and sweat.
Wax and Sweat – The enemies of hearing devices
Wax and sweat (or moisture damage) are the most common reasons a hearing aid will stop working. The wax can clog up the speaker, microphones, or get into the electronics and the sweat or excessive moisture can shut down the electronics all together. Although hearing aids are made to withstand both of these threats, they are still the top two causes of malfunction and deterioration of hearing aid life expectancy .
In addition, if you wear your hearing instruments more than average then their exposure to wax and sweat will naturally increase. However, just because you have more sweat and/or wax content in your ears shouldn't mean that you should limit your usage time of the hearing aids. The more wax/sweat you have or the more you wear your instruments should prompt you to increase your cleaning and preventative care measures in order to keep up with the increased exposure.
Taking care of your hearing aids
The most overlooked subject in the hearing aid industry is caring for your hearing aids. This shouldn't even be an issue because most hearing aid centers and providers offer free cleaning and servicing of hearing aids purchased from them for the warranty period ( some hearing aid centers even offer free lifetime hearing aid servicing and cleaning ).
In other words, this issue should not be an excuse. Most people service or clean their hearing instruments through a professional service or office once a year to every 1.5 years in our experience. You should be servicing your hearing instruments once every three months, especially if it’s free! If you service your hearing aids 4 times a year (just like an oil change on your car) you should have no problem getting 6-8 years of usage time from your hearing devices.
They're many factors to hearing aid life expectancy being short, but don't fall into the category of neglect for proper care. Get your hearing aids cleaned for free or spend $20 to replace some parts, it'll be well worth it in the long run.