If you care for them, hearing aids can last for years. But they quit being practical if they no longer address your degree of hearing loss. Your hearing aids are calibrated to your specific level of hearing loss and comparable to prescription glasses, need to be updated if your condition worsens. If they are programmed and fitted properly, here’s how long you can expect them to last.
Do Hearing Aids Expire?
There’s a shelf life for nearly any product. It could take a couple of weeks for the milk inside your fridge to expire. A few months to several years is the shelf life of canned products. Within the next few years or so, even your new high-def TV will need to be swapped out. So finding out that your hearing aids have a shelf life is probably not very surprising.
2 to 5 years is generally the shelf life for a set of hearing aids, although you might want to replace them sooner with the new technology emerging. There are a number of possible factors that will effect the shelf life of your hearing aids:
- Construction: Materials like nano-coated plastics, silicon, and metal are used to construct modern hearing aids. Some wear-and-tear can be anticipated in spite of the fact that hearing aids are manufactured to be ergonomic and durable. Despite premium construction, if you’re prone to dropping your hearing aids, their longevity will be affected.
- Care: It shouldn’t be surprising to find out that if you care for your hearing aids, they will last longer. Doing regular required maintenance and cleaning is crucial. Time put into proper care will translate almost directly into increased operational time.
- Batteries: Internal, rechargeable batteries are standard with most hearing aids in current use. The type of battery or power supply your hearing aids use can substantially influence the total shelf life of different models.
- Type: There are a couple of basic kinds of hearing aids: inside-the-ear and behind-the-ear. Five years or so will be the expected shelf life of inside-the-ear model hearing aids because of exposure to debris, sweat, and dirt of the ear canal. Because they are able to stay cleaner and dryer, behind the ear models normally last 6-7 years.
Usually, the standard usage of your hearing aid determines the exact shelf life. But failing to wear your hearing aids could also reduce their expected usefulness (leaving your hearing aids neglected on a shelf and unmaintained can also diminish the lifespan of your hearing aids).
Hearing aids should also be inspected and professionally cleaned every so often. This helps make certain that there is no wax buildup and that they still fit properly.
It’s a Good Idea to Switch Out Your Hearing Aids Before They Wear Down
There may come a time when, down the road, your hearing aid functionality starts to wane. And it will be time, then, to start searching for a new pair. But in a few cases, you may find that a new pair will be practical well before your hearing aids start to show their age. Some of those scenarios could include:
- Changes in technology: Every year, hearing aid manufacturers introduce innovative new technologies that make hearing aids more useful in novel ways. It might be worth investing in a new hearing aid sooner than later if you feel like you would be significantly helped by some of these cutting edge technologies.
- Your hearing changes: You need to change your hearing aid scenario if the condition of your hearing changes. Your hearing aids could no longer be calibrated to successfully manage your hearing issue. In these cases, a new hearing aid could be required for you to hear optimally.
- Your lifestyle changes: You could, in many cases, have a certain lifestyle in mind when you purchase your hearing aids. But perhaps your circumstances change, maybe you’ve become more physically active and you need a set that are waterproof, more heavy-duty, or rechargeable.
You can see why the plan for updating your hearing devices is difficult to estimate. How many years your hearing aids will last depends on a handful of variables, but you can generally count on that 2-5 year range.