Can A Hearing Aid Damage Your Hearing?

Can a hearing aid damage your hearing? It may sound like an asinine question but it is of legit concern to some patients who worry about losing what little hearing abilities that they do have. It is our hope to bring all the facts, good or bad, together in this article so that you may form your own opinion.

Hearing aid programming and ear cleanliness

One of the main ways a hearing aid can damage your hearing is if the device isn’t programmed correctly. These means do not program your hearing aids to amplify sounds to the extreme. Always program them to the lowest level of amplification possible at which you can still hear clearly. 80 decibels is known to permanently damage hearing so keep that in mind as well when programming.

Though not permanent, another way hearing aids can affect your hearing has to do with cleanliness. Always follow your device’s guidelines on how to clean and how often to clean your hearing aid. Not only that, always keep your ears clean as well.

Ear wax that is left unchecked can become pushed down into the ear canal and become compacted over the eardrum. This can cause temporary hearing loss until the ears are thoroughly cleaned.

Benefits of wearing hearing aids

Through much research and data collecting, these are the only two ways in which it was found that a hearing aid could indeed damage your hearing. However, there are quite a few benefits your hearing aid can offer you!
Wearing hearing aids can help combat dementia.

Clinical studies have shown that those who suffer from hearing loss and leave it untreated are much more likely to develop dementia with age. This is due to atrophy in the areas of the brain that regulate hearing. Consider this, muscles that do not get used often become weak.

Now, use that same concept with your brain. If a certain area is not being used it will eventually grow weak. That is what happens with those areas of the brain that deal with hearing. They become weak and can eventually lead to dementia. So, it’s wise to always wear your hearing aid when possible.

If you suffer from tinnitus, along with your hearing loss, research has found that hearing aids can actually help remedy that annoyance!

Weighing the risks and benefits

In conclusion, the final opinion is yours to decide whether or not hearing aids do, in fact, damage your hearing. Do the benefits outweigh the risks? That is a conclusion for you to come up with. Just keep in mind that the problems that can be created by a hearing aid can be remedied if you follow the instructions listed in this article.