You just replaced the batteries, but your hearing aids just don’t sound the way they should. Everything sounds muffled, distant, and not right. It’s like you aren’t hearing the full sound you’re supposed to be receiving. When you do some basic research, a low battery appears to be the probable cause. And that’s frustrating because you’re really careful about placing your hearing aid on the charging platform before you go to bed each night.

But here you are with some friends and you can’t really hear their conversation. This is exactly the situation you got hearing aids to prevent. You may want to check out one more possibility before you become too annoyed about your hearing aids: earwax.

A Residence in Your Ears

Your hearing aids reside in your ear, normally. Your ear canal is at least contacted even by an over the ear design. And for best efficiency, other models have been designed to be positioned directly in the ear canal. No matter where your hearing aid is situated, it will encounter an ever-present neighbor: earwax.

A Shield Against Earwax

Now, earwax does a lot of important things for the health of your ears ((numerous infection can actually be avoided because of the antibacterial and anti-fungal qualities of earwax, according to numerous studies). So earwax is not a negative thing.

But hearing aids and earwax don’t always work together quite as well–earwax moisture, in particular, can interfere with the normal operation of hearing aids. The good news is, this isn’t really a surprise to hearing aid makers and earwax doesn’t often move in unpredictable ways.

So a safety feature, called wax guards, have been integrated so that the effective function of your device isn’t hampered by earwax. And the “weak” sound may be brought about by these wax guards.

Things to Know About Wax Guards

There is a tiny piece of technology inside your hearing aid called a wax guard. The concept is that the wax guard allows sound to get through, but not wax. Wax guards are indispensable for your hearing aid to continue working properly. But there are some situations where the wax guard itself could cause some issues:

• You have a dirty hearing aid shell: And let’s not forget your hearing aid shell, which also needs to be cleaned when you switch out your wax guard. If your hearing aid shell is plugged with earwax, it’s possible some of that wax could find its way into the interior of the device while you’re swapping the guard (and this would clearly hamper the efficiency of your hearing aids).
• Cleaning your earwax guard needs to be done once each month: it’s been too long since you last cleaned them. A wax guard filters out the wax but it can become clogged and as with any kind of filter, it has to be cleaned. Every every so often, you’ll need to clean the guard or the wax caught up in it will start to block sound waves and mess up your hearing.
• You haven’t replaced your wax guard for a while: Like any other filter, eventually, the wax guard will no longer be able to adequately perform its job. A wax guard can only be cleaned so much. When cleaning no longer does the trick, you may have to change your wax guard (you can purchase a special toolkit to make this process easier).
• When you bought your new wax guards, you got the wrong model: Each model and maker has a different wax guard. If you purchase the wrong model for your particular hearing aid, your device’s functions may be impaired, and that could result in the hearing aid sounding “weak.”
• It’s time for a professional clean and check: At least once per year you need to get your hearing aid professionally checked and cleaned to make certain it’s functioning correctly. And in order to be certain that your hearing hasn’t changed at all, you also need to get your hearing tested regularly.

If you buy a new hearing aid guard, it will probably come with instructions, so it’s a good plan to follow those instructions to the best of your ability.

After I Switch Out my Earwax Guard

You should hear substantially improved sound quality after you change your wax guard. You’ll be able to hear (and follow) conversations again. And if you’ve been coping with poor sound from your hearing aids, this can be quite a relief.

There’s certainly a learning curve when it comes to maintaining any specialized device such as hearing aids. So just keep in mind: It’s probably time to change your wax guard if the sound quality of your hearing aid is weak even with a fully charged battery.