Earmold retubing.
In hot summer months a frequent cause of failure in behind-the-ear aids is a droplet of moisture in the earmold tubing. It can cause distortion of sound and partial or total loss of power. This occurs more often in old tubing, which has shrunk or become brittle. Retubing solves the problem.

Things not to do with your hearing aids.
Hearing aids should NEVER be put in your pocket for ANY reason; pockets can develop holes. It is also a bad idea to wrap them in tissue for safekeeping. We see about two people a month who have either washed their hearing aids or thrown them away. Another dangerous thing to do with them is to leave them where a pet can get to them. They remind your pets of you, and they love to chew or hide them.

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Ear wax and hearing aids.
Besides the obvious problem of clogging up the sound port, wax can create a more subtle problem. Before the arrival of probe microphone measurement techniques, we had no idea how important the role of ear wax was in hearing aid performance. Your ear has a natural resonance. Even just a little wax in your ear canal totally changes how your aids sound.

Think about making music with a Coke bottle. Different levels of water produce a different pitch when you blow over the top of the bottle. Small "blobs" of wax are like adding water to the coke bottle. They change the natural "pitch" of your ear canal. Big blobs in your ear canal change it more. Particularly in small ears, even small amounts of wax can totally change the clarity of your hearing aid, by shifting the "pitch" of your aid to the bass end, reducing the crispness of speech.

The sample below compares hearing aid performance (light line) with wax in the ear canal, and after wax was removed. With hearing aids, the smoother the curve, the better the sound quality. "Too much wax" doesn't necessarily mean "totally plugged with wax".

If your doctor does not object, you can avoid the problem by monthly use of an earwash kit, such as that made by Murine. Or see your doctor for wax removal. Your physician may not understand that even a little wax affects how your hearing aid sounds. You may have to explain what you've learned here about it.

Earwash kits are not advisable for anyone with a history of perforated eardrum, swimmer's ear, fungus infection in the ear, or draining ear.

Ancient aids.
Seven years may not seem that old, but in "hearing aid years", it's ancient. On average, people replace hearing aids every 3 to 6 years. In the past we've discouraged repair of aids over seven years old as a poor investment. In most cases, hearing levels will have changed in seven years, as well as the shape of the bowl of the ear. Also, the reliability of a repair on an aid that old is often poor.

When aids hit the 5-7 year range, many manufacturers will not even repair their own products. The few who do, charge more and reduce the warranty on the repair to three months. What does that tell you? They have little confidence in the reliability of the repairs on the aids. (Good thing our doctors don't feel the same way, but then, I guess Our Manufacturer had more experience!). Manufacturers explain that new parts inventories change and are updated, and often even the original manufacturer will have to substitute a part and hope for the best.

Our alternative is to use a lab which fixes all makes of aids. But guess where they get the majority of the parts? ...used aids. Up to a point, this works pretty well, but when you start repairing a seven year old instrument with used parts from a nine year old aid, it's hardly surprising if reliability suffers. Especially if the parts aren't exactly the same. We'll still provide in-office clean and service, but we will not send ten year old aids out for lab repairs. We don't need the headaches or the bad feelings, and neither do you.

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Battery life.
Many patients ask why hearing aid batteries must be replaced every one to four weeks, while wristwatch batteries last a year or longer. Hearing aids draw more current from batteries than wristwatches do. A hearing aid battery must power a mini amplifier, microphone, speaker, and in the case of programmable, a computer chip. So even though the two devices may use the same type of batteries, like zinc, a hearing aid uses much more energy each day.

It is common that two hearing aids that look the same and use the same size battery will have different battery life. This is dictated by the complexity of the circuitry and the number of hours per day the instruments are worn.

Corrosion alert!
If you are storing a hearing aid unused for more than a week, be sure to remove the battery. Over a long period of time, it can cause corrosion, resulting in a dead, intermittent, or scratchy-sounding aid, which may require lab repair. This is particularly important if you have "back up" aids. A good solution is to store them in a Hearing Aid Saver dehumidifying kit.

Fat ears.
Did you know that losing as little as five to eight pounds can cause your hearing aids to fit looser and whistle or feed back? Most people lose weight in their face (ears) first. Another common cause of feedback is a build-up of wax in your ear. A third frequent cause is major dental work, which can shift your jaw and affect motion in your ear while you talk or chew.

Does insurance cover the cost of hearing aids?
Most major insurance companies do not cover hearing aids, although some may cover testing. The terms of the coverage are usually dictated by an agreement between the employer who makes the coverage available and the insurance company. In very few cases is 100% coverage a benefit. More often, a percentage of the total cost or a flat fee benefit is offered. We are providers for Albertsons Employees Plan, SCAN, National Ear Care Plan (NECP), Blue Shield of California, Blue Cross, Cigna (HMO or out of network), Aetna, Health Net PPO only, UCFW, Operating Engineers, Orange County Foundation, and Joint Benefit Trust Fund of Teamsters Union. Many managed care organizations negotiate special discounts for their members. Even if we are not listed as a provider, bring your discount information and we will do our best to honor it. For example, we give discounts to members of: Albertsons Employees, Kaiser, Secure Horizons, Consumer Health Advantage and Blue Cross 65 Plus.

The most common situation we see regarding hearing aid insurance is a managed care organization negotiating discounted prices on hearing aids and services from certain providers. In this instance, the insurance company doesn't pay anything, they simply arrange for better pricing for their members. A few very large audiology corporations have "gobbled up" these official provider contracts with managed care organizations. They may offer "up to a 35% discount" on hearing aids, but they generally start with the published Manufacturer’s Suggested retail Price (MSRP). Our regular prices are far lower than MSRP to begin with. If your health plan documentation describes a hearing care benefit and we are not listed as providers, call us.

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Hearing aids for breast cancer.
There is finally something useful to do with old hearing aids that you'll never use again, whether they're working or not. Our office created a project with Fullerton Sunrise Rotary to collect used hearing aids, sell them to repair labs for salvage, and donate the proceeds to a YWCA Breast Cancer screening project in Fullerton. To date, over $7000 has been raised to help uninsured and underinsured women obtain this lifesaving service. Just mail or drop off used instruments for the "Breast Cancer Project".

What about itchy ears?
If your ears are clean and healthy, and yet they itch, an over-the-counter hydrocortisone cream like our Audiologist's Choice Anti-Itch cream may be the solution. It should only be used at night, after you have removed your hearing aids. Sometimes itching is due to dryness of the skin. Baby oil is a good all around choice for keeping ears lubricated. A few drops in the ear canal at bedtime will lubricate the skin and increase the tissue's natural capacity to repel water. It is also ultrasafe. Another great substance for keeping the skin lubricated is glycerin. Chemically, glycerin belongs to the alcohol family, and is one of the few chemicals that skin tissue can absorb, assimilate, and metabolize. You'll find glycerin in many hand lotions, but be careful of the perfumes. Our Eargene, a cooling, soothing lotion for hearing aid users, contains a lot of glycerin, as well as cooling menthol. We also carry Otoease, a pure glycerin product in a convenient dropper bottle.

Keeping tabs.
What on earth do you do with those pesky battery tabs? How about putting them on your calendar when you change batteries, so you can track your battery life?

Hints for Talking to People with Hearing Loss

• Get his or her attention before you begin to speak.
• Speak slowly and distinctly
• Do not shout or talk from another room
• If he or she doesn't understand, say it a different way
• Avoid covering your mouth, chewing gum, or smoking.
• Hold your head still
• Keep your face in the light
• If it's noisy, move to a quieter location.

Some conditions which make hearing more difficult

To improve listening conditions:

• Don't shout - it usually does not help.
• Instead, move closer, where it's quieter, where you can face each other.
• But even more important, begin with unimportant words so the listener is focussed and ready to listen.

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