The majority of people who wear hearing aids are not aware that they need to have their devices serviced and maintained on a semi-regular basis. According to Vic Warmsby of Miracle Ear, the average person with a hearing aid should have his or her device checked out by a professional at least once every four months.
As the co-owner of 11 Miracle Ear hearing centers in Columbus, Rome, Griffin, Jasper, Alpharetta, Atlanta, Bogart, Douglasville, Kennesaw, Lithonia, and Morrow, Georgia, Warmsby has worked with countless patients who needed assistance maintaining their hearing aid devices. He says that most people are not aware that they are supposed to get their devices serviced and maintained because the perception is that hearing aids can be worn non-stop from the very beginning.
At his Miracle Ear centers in Columbus, Rome, Griffin, Jasper, Alpharetta, Atlanta, Bogart, Douglasville, Kennesaw, Lithonia, and Morrow, Georgia, Warmsby recommends that people come back and get their hearing aids tested approximately three times each year. If there is something wrong with the hearing aid at that time, then a hearing instrument specialist can usually take care of the problem right away in the office.
The problem with waiting until a hearing aid stops functioning before bringing it in for repair is that most people have no way of knowing when their hearing aids have started performing poorly. The changes in a hearing aid’s reception or function can happen so gradually that the wearer does not realize that anything is wrong. In many cases, Warmsby says people think their hearing aids are supposed to function at this level, when in actuality they could be hearing much better if they had their devices cleaned, checked out, or attended to.
A professional should inspect every hearing aid two to three times a year, at the very minimum. However, the reasons for these inspections vary. In some cases, Warmsby recommends that people come in not because their hearing aids have broken, but because changes in their personal lives may necessitate a new hearing device.
People who wear hearing aids for a number of years are likely to have very substantial lifestyle changes during that time. As a person’s lifestyle changes, his hearing aid needs change, as well. Warmsby explains that the average age of a person with hearing loss is 70 years old. If a person has a lifespan of 85 to 90 years old, then a lot can change over the 15 to 20 years the patient is wearing a hearing aid. A device that fit the person’s lifestyle when he was fully mobile and living by himself may not be appropriate once the person begins living in a nursing facility or relying on the support of a wheelchair to get around.
For more information on selecting the right hearing aid, Warmsby recommends contacting a Miracle-Ear hearing center in Georgia.
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