How to Clean Your Hearing Aids Weekly

Hearing aids are small, sit inside or behind your ear, and pick up earwax, skin oil, sweat, and dust every day you wear them. When that buildup gets into the microphone screen or the speaker tube, the sound goes muffled, words start to drop out. And you may think the device is broken when it only needs a cleaning. The single most common reason hearing aids stop working well is wax, not a hardware failure, so a few minutes of weekly care saves you a service visit and helps the aids last the four to seven years most people get out of them.

The basic rule is to clean your hearing aids in the morning before you put them in, when they have had a full night to dry out. Never run them under water, never use rubbing alcohol or wet wipes, and never use a cotton swab to dig into the speaker. Water and alcohol damage the tiny electronics inside. Cotton fibers break off and clog the speaker mesh. The right tools are simple and come in the small kit your audiologist gave you, or you can buy a kit on Amazon for around fifteen dollars. You need a soft brush, a wax pick or wire loop, a clean dry cloth, and the small replacement filters that came with your aids.

Start by wiping the whole hearing aid with a dry cloth or tissue. Then use the soft brush to sweep across the microphone openings, which are usually two tiny holes on the top of the part that sits behind your ear. Brush downward so any loose wax falls away rather than into the holes. Next, look at the speaker end, the part that goes into your ear. Most modern aids have a small white wax filter you can pop out and replace when it looks dirty. The package of replacement filters has a tool that looks like a tiny stick with two ends. One end pulls the old filter out, the other end has a fresh filter ready to push in.

If your aids have a custom earmold or a dome, take it off and wipe it with a dry tissue. Domes can be rinsed with plain water and dried fully overnight, but only when separated from the aid itself. Once a week, place your hearing aids in a drying jar or an electronic dryer overnight. These remove the moisture from sweat and humidity that builds up inside, and a dry aid almost always sounds better than a damp one. Replace the wax filter every two to four weeks, or sooner if the sound is muffled and brushing did not fix it.