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General Information: Hearing Aid Check

HOW TO DO A DAILY CHECK OF HEARING AID FUNCTION

Taken from For Families: A Guidebook for Helping Your Young Deaf or Hard of Hearing Child
Learn to Listen and Communicate, Infant Hearing Resources, Hearing and Speech Institute, Portland, OR, 1998.

WHAT YOU NEED:

  • Battery tester
  • Stethoset, or ear mold custom-made for parent with 12" of tubing

WHAT TO DO:

  1. Examine hearing aid for loose connections, dirt, or broken parts.
  2. Examine ear mold for ear wax or moisture in canal or loose tubing.
  3. Test battery for appropriate voltage and insert a "good" battery into aid.
  4. Attach hearing aid, with child's ear mold on, to stethoset
    -OR-
    Attach hearing aid, with child's ear mold removed, to tubing on parent's ear mold
  5. Set hearing aid switches to "microphone" and "on".
  6. Hold microphone of hearing aid within 12" of mouth. Talking at conversational level, turn volume up to comfortable setting. (Use the same volume level from day to day. Needing to turn volume higher may indicate failing battery or problem with hearing aid function.)
  7. Say the following sounds in the Ling Six Sound Test (these sounds cover the frequency range from low to high pitch speech sounds) as you listen to the aid:

    "mmm" "oo" "ah" "ee" "sh" "s"

Listen for weak or intermittent signal, distortion, or unusual noise in signal.

  1. If you cannot fix the hearing aid, take it to the audiologist or send it to the manufacturer for repair.
  2. Attach child's ear mold to the hearing aid and place hearing aid on child's ear. Turn hearing aid on.

A child's hearing aids should be checked by the audiologist or educational specialist at least monthly on an electro-acoustic analyzer, such as the Fonix Hearing Aid Test box. This equipment shows the amount of gain provided by the hearing aid at its use setting throughout the frequency range. It also gives a percentage of distortion introduced into the signal by the hearing aid. It can detect problems in the hearing aid that you may not be able to hear during your daily hearing aid check.

HEARING AID PROBLEMS AND THEIR CAUSES

 If the hearing aid:

Battery

Amplifier

Ear Mold Tubing
 Is weak
  • low voltage
  • wrong type
  • leakage occurring
  • switches are in incorrect position
  • microphone opening is clogged
  • clogged with wax
Is intermittent
  • corrosion on battery contacts
  • possible shorting*
  • loose or damaged parts
  • tubing collapses or bends when head is turned
Is dead
  • is exhausted
  • inserted in reverse
  • wrong type
  • corrosion on battery contacts**
  • T-M switch is in T position
  • possible shorting*
  • has gotten wet***
  • canal clogged with wax
  • tubing collapsed or clogged
  • tubing blocked with moisture
Gives feedback whistles
  • wrong type
  • corrosion on battery contacts**
  • volume control set too high
  • microphone too close to a surface
  • ear mold not inserted fully
  • ear mold too small
  • excessive wax in ear canal
  • holes/cracks in tubing or ear mold
  • tubing too short
Is distorted, sounds "bad"; intelligibility is poor
  • low voltage
  • corrosion on battery contacts**
  • incorrect tone setting
  • microphone opening clogged
  • volume turned to high
  • clogged canal
  • canal too long
  • ear mold needs venting
  • tubing too long
  • tubing collapses when head is turned
  • excessive wax in ear

* Rub contacts with eraser of pencil to remove corrosion.
** Return aid to audiologist or hearing aid manufacturer for repair
*** Remove Battery, leave battery door open. Put hearing aid in dri-aid kit or in room-temperature spot and let dry out overnight. If not functioning after drying out, return aid to audiologist or hearing aid manufacturer for repair.

 

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