How To Choose High-Quality Hearing Aid Accessories

Hearing aids must be maintained on a regular basis because they are designed to be worn every day. The hearing care provider may include some of the essential accessories in the price of your hearing aids. Others may require further purchases and are totally optional.

Furthermore, if you have a type of irreversible hearing loss, you may want to consider getting an assistive listening device (ALD¹) to improve your hearing experience. Talking on the phone, watching TV, going to public events, and participating in work meetings can all be made easier using ALDs.

Batteries

A power source is required for all hearing aids to work. You’ll need a constant supply of replaceable hearing device “button” batteries unless you already have rechargeable hearing aids. There are four main sizes of hearing aid batteries – 10, 312, 13, and 675, in order of smallest to largest. 

Your hearing aids will use one of these specific battery types, and your hearing care practitioner will normally give you a few to get you started. To ensure that you get the proper type of battery, a standardized color-coding scheme is used. Although some may argue that batteries aren’t hearing aid accessories, they are an essential part of your hearing device. 

Always keep extra batteries on hand so you’re ready for the day and can keep your hearing aids working well. Also, since batteries are a recurring expense, ask your supplier about battery clubs or mail-order programs that might make battery purchases more convenient and cost-effective.

Hearing aid dryer/dehumidifier

These accessories can help if you sweat a lot, live in a humid area, or engage in a lot of outdoor activities that could damage your hearing aids. A desiccant is used in basic dehumidifiers ²to pull moisture out overnight. With regular reactivation, the desiccant will last a long time. Some desiccants come in a soft pouch that may be reheated in the microwave for about one minute.

Others are kept in a metal tin that may be placed in a 325° oven for about 30 minutes. Hearing aid dry containers that use UV light³ to dry and sterilize hearing aids overnight are becoming more advanced. These can be purchased either online or via your hearing care practitioner. Ask your audiologist or hearing aid specialist about instructions for using this technology.

Alerting devices

A simple but crucial remark on alerting devices, particularly fire and smoke alarms. A speaker that delivers a 3100 Hz sound is used in most modern smoke alarms which must sound at least 75 decibels at 10 feet, according to the National Fire Protection Agency. 

According to studies, a sound must be 40 decibels louder than the person’s hearing threshold to reliably wake them up. If you wear hearing aids, your hearing at this essential pitch is probably not very good. There are several alternatives to secure your safety during a fire, for decades the hearing-impaired community has used visual and tactile triggering systems. 

These are made up of transmitters and receivers that pick up the smoke alarm’s signal and either flash a strobe, activate a vibrating device under a pillow, or both. These can be standalone systems with the strobe built-in or integrated systems with information from phones, doorbells, and surveillance systems.

Assistive listening devices

Personal connections to gadgets are enabled by these technologies, making it much easier to hear or interact. Amplified phones, phones, and smartphones compatible with hearing aids and television compatible devices are among them.

Amplified phones are built specifically for those with hearing loss and allow you to increase the volume as needed to hear speech. These gadgets can be used without the use of hearing aids. They can help you hear high-pitched sounds, which are difficult for many individuals with hearing loss to hear. These phones may also have enhanced ring tones, ensuring that you never miss a call.

Watching your favorite shows might become a burden if you have problems understanding or hearing them clearly. And turning up the volume when watching TV with others isn’t always a popular choice. Whether or not you wear hearing aids, there are television ALDs that can help you.

Final thoughts

If your hearing isn’t what it once was, you may need more than just one-to-one hearing aids but also other devices that function in conjunction with your hearing aids to allow you to communicate with other people in a wider range of situations. 

These items are frequently referred to as “accessories” and may be included as an afterthought. They are critical components of hearing systems that allow users to live their lives almost completely the same as before their hearing loss started.

1. Zhao, Yang, et al. “Atomic/molecular layer deposition for energy storage and conversion.” Chemical Society Reviews 50.6 (2021): 3889-3956. ↩︎
2. Shamim, Jubair A., et al. “A review of solid desiccant dehumidifiers: Current status and near-term development goals in the context of net zero energy buildings.” Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 137 (2021): 110456. ↩︎
3. Sadeghifar, Hasan, and Arthur Ragauskas. “Lignin as a UV light blocker—a review.” Polymers 12.5 (2020): 1134. ↩︎

Last Updated on February 18, 2024 by Suchi