Reasons My Hearing Aid Could Be Hurting My Ear

When it comes to wearing a hearing aid, you may at some point have found the hearing aid to be uncomfortable in your ear. Your expectations may be that it should just slip in to your ear with no problems and without even thinking, this will not be the case when you are new to your hearing aid and it will take time. We look at at four of the main reasons your hearing aid could be hurting your ear. 

How To Insert Your Hearing Aid In To Your Ear

If your hearing aid has not been inserted into your ear correctly, it will be sat in the wrong place or at the wrong angle. This will put pressure on a part of your ear that the hearing aid should not be sat at and will start to get sore. Continued pressure and rubbing like this can cause redness and imflamation that will prevent you from wearing your hearing aid at all.   If you have an ear mould attached to your hearing aid a common occurance with putting the ear mould in the ear incorrectly is the helix section. This is the top pointed area to the ear mould, it needs to sit into the top crevice of your ear canal. Instead of slotting into this crevice it can be sat on top of the outer rim of your ear and can get sore easily when this is done often believing this is the correct spot. You should not be able to feel the top helix section of the ear mould if you brush your hand across your ear, it should be comfortably tucked inside that crevice. If it is not then take your ear mould out and try inserting it once again. 

Getting your hearing aid in your ear correctly takes practice.To get your hearing aid in right isn't as simple as just trying to fiddle with it and twist it in you need to be aware of what you are working with.

Hearing Aid Mould Doesn't Fit

If you are inserting your ear mould into your ear correclty then it could be the ear mould itself that is not the right fit. There could be a chance your hearing aid ear mould is a little too big or a little too small for your ear. When you get a brand new ear mould it is made as an identical copy of your outer ear shape, making it a snug fit to your ear. This normally will be something your ear will adapt to fine, however in certain ear shapes it may feel larger than it should in which case it may require modification at your audiology department or hearing centre you got your hearing aid from. 

Alternatively your ear mould could be too small for your ear. This is a common occurance when you have had the same hearing aid for a few years. Your ear mould could now be too small for your ear because your ear has outgrown it. Your ear continues to grow, in fact it never stops growing. Therefore when you have your hearing reassessed you will often have a new ear mould made. Sometimes you may need a new ear mould sooner than this point therefore if you feel it could be that your ear mould is too small, book to have your hearing aid looked at and mention this when you have your check up.

Hearing Aid Tubing Not Right

If you have an ear mould you will also have a plastic tubing going through it that attaches to your hearing aid at the back of your ear. This needs to be trimmed to neatly match up with the hearing aid at the back of your ear. If this tube is too long the hearing aid at the back will not sit right at the top and may move around and rub at the back of your ear. If the tube is too short it will pull the hearing aid too tightly causing a soreness at the point it joins and may also pull the ear mould up causing your ear to feel irritated. 

If you don't have an ear mould and instead have whats called an 'open fitting' or 'slim tube' the tubing this can cause discomfort if the length of the tubing again is either too long or too short, the length cannot be trimmed instead the tubing size will need to be replaced to either a longer or shorter size. At the end of the tube is a dome and if the dome has been pushed too far into the ear it can cause soreness into the ear. If the dome is not placed in the ear enough it may wiggle around causing iritiation. It can take a bit of time to practice where the right spot to place your open fitting or slim tube for your hearing aid but once in the correct spot it should fit very comfortably.  

Keep Your Hearing Aid Clean

If your hearing aid is not clean you may be accidently bringing extra dirt into your ears which has the potential to irritate your ears. When you are using your hearing aid daily it can be easy to do. You may find it gets wax on it, or dust, debris or even pet hairs find themselves in your ear. This can be easily avoided if your ears are kept clean and your hearing aid is wiped down after use and before re-inserting into your ear. 

Tips To Be Pain Free

• Have your hearing aid user guide to hand while getting used to your hearing aid.
• Use any diagrams your audiologist or hearing specialist has given you. 
• Don't be afraid to ask about racticing hearing aid insertion during appointments with the person who fitted your hearing aid they will be happy to help. 
• Take your time, don't worry about how fast you are inserting your hearing aid in the beginning becuase you will adapt and naturally get quicker the more often you do it. 
• If your ear feels red and sore from wearing your hearing aid, give your ear time to breathe and rest before trying again.
• Build up your usuage of your hearing aid gradually.
• If your hearing aid isn't comfortable arrange an appointment with your audiologist  or hearing specialist.