we will cover fault-finding on two different styles of hearing aid
there's the slim tube hearing aid which in general is for a milder hearing loss
and the moulded hearing aid we will cover this moulded hearing aid first
if your hearing aid is working correctly when you cup the hearing aid in your
hands you should hear a whistling or buzzing noise we call this sound
acoustic feedback
the first thing to check would be the battery. Undo the battery compartment
replace the old battery with a new battery. It's worth noting at this point
that sometimes you can get a dud battery in a packet. Once the batteries
been replaced cup the hearing aid in your hands the hearing aid may take up
to 10 seconds to come on but if you hear the whistling and buzzing the acoustic
feedback it means the hearing aid is working so in this case right now the
problem was dead battery. If your hearing aid is still not working after replacing
the battery. The next step is to unscrew the tone hook, tubing and mould from the
hearing aid like so. if you replace the battery and cover the hearing aid in
your hand and you get no acoustic feedback that would suggest that the
hearing aid is faulty and you will need to get in touch with your audiology
department
if your hearing aid is still not working after replacing the battery the next
step is to unscrew the tone hook tubing and mould from the hearing aid
like so. If we now cover the hearing aid in our hands and get that noise it means
that the problem is somewhere along this pathway here now the next step would be
to try the tone hook on its own so put the tone hook tubing and mould back on the
hearing aid. Take the tubing and mould away from the hearing aid cover the
hearing aid in your hand in this case we have no acoustic feedback and this is
due to a blockage in the tone hook this can be solved by changing the tone hook
to a new tone hook you can ring your audiology department and they can post a
new tone hook out or you can visit the audiology department to get a new tone
hook
if after reattaching the tone hook to the hearing aids and covering it in your
hands you get acoustic feedback this would suggest there's a problem along
the tubing here so what we've done is we've created a simulation of a wax
blockage with a little piece of blue tack in the end of the mould here okay so
what you can do is you can use a paper clip or a cocktail stick or a needle
just to try and remove the blockage from the tubing sometimes you get some
moisture buildup within the tubing and this can be removed with a puffer you
can get these from the internet or from a hearing aid dispenser or even camera
shops have these because it's often used to remove the dust from the camera lens
now if we attach the tubing and mould back onto the hearing aids and when you
attach these try and get the curve of the hearing aid matching the curve of
the mould like so if you cover this in your hands
this should now create the acoustic feedback
the slim tube hearing aid can be checked in two easy steps first of all
change the battery
with the new battery in the hearing aid cup the hearing aid in your hand if the
hearing aid whistles or buzzes your hearing aid should be working the
hearing aid can take up to 10 seconds to come on
if the hearing aid is still not working after changing the battery the next step
is to change the tube. Before I show you how to do this you should have been
provided with a spare tube by your audiology department as the tubes only
last around four months so if your tube has been on there much longer it's
likely that this is the problem. To change the tube grab either side of the
join where the tubing meets the hearing aid here. Unscrew the tube in an
anti-clockwise motion get your new tube push and turn it can take a little bit
for the thread to grip inside the hearing aid but continue to turn in a
clockwise direction until the tubing discontinues turning you should now find
that your hearing aid is working if you do not have a spare tube please contact
your audiology department and they will be able to provide you with one if your
hearing aid is still not working after changing the battery and changing the
tube please contact your audiology department