Face Masks & Hearing Aids

Aside from the challenges of hearing speech through a face mask, hearing aid wearers are also prey to easily losing hearing aids when removing their own face mask.  Particularly with behind-the-ear styles.  UBHearing is keen to share tips and strategies to help you avoid losing your hearing aid when wearing a mask.

It happens in a moment.  You leave the grocery store and, as you push the shopping cart back to your car, you reach up to slip off your mask.  You don't notice that your hearing aid wire or tube has become entangled in the earloop.  It's not until you get home that you realize you are missing a hearing aid.  What a sinking feeling!

The good news is that, at UBHearing, our hearing aids come with 2-year FREE Loss & Damage replacement warranty, with no deductible!  However, hearing aids can only be replaced once under the Loss & Damage warranty and, ideally, nobody wants to lose a hearing aid.  So, what can be done to reduce the likelihood of losing your hearing aids?

1.  Only remove your mask in your car.  A simple solution is to ensure you do not remove your mask until you are in a safe, enclosed space, like your vehicle.  That way, if your hearing aid is pulled out of your ear, even if you fail to notice it right away, you'll be able to find it in your car.
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2.  Avoid earloops!  Earloop masks seem to be the most widely available, and come in a variety of colours, sports team logos, and themes.  However, earloop masks are the ones most likely to interfere with hearing aids, competing for scarce real estate behind your ears, often along with your glasses.  A mask with head straps, rather than earloops, is a safer bet for those wearing hearing aids.  If you don't want to give up your fashionable earloop mask, consider buying (or making) an earloop face mask extender.  By doing so, you effectively convert your earloop mask to function like a head strap mask, reducing the risk of interference with hearing aids.  At UBHearing, we are able to offer earloop mask extenders to our clients as of November 1st!

3.  Consider custom earmolds.  The majority of behind-the-ear hearing aids are worn with a small, soft, silicone dome or sleeve.  However, an alternative to wearing a dome is to replace it with a custom earmold, made to fit your ear.  A custom earmold is made of either silicone or lucite and, since it has more surface area than a small dome, and is made specifically to fit each client, it can aid in retention of the hearing aid.  Earmolds are typically colourless, reducing visibility in your ear.  Although the behind-the-ear portion would still be at risk of being pulled off with a mask, the larger earpiece may result in the hearing aid dangling out of your ear, rather than falling out.  Several clients who have had near-misses with mask removal have been relieved that their custom earmolds prevented the loss of their hearing aid.  At a cost of $100.00 per ear, a custom earmold may be a worthwhile investment, as compared to the potential cost of replacing a hearing aid.

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Masks have introduced many new challenges to those who struggle to hear well.  At UBHearing, we are committed to helping you hear your best.  If you are a UBHearing customer and have lost a hearing aid, please let us know as soon as possible.  Although it's worthwhile to try and find a lost hearing aid, waiting too long for it to turn up may result in your Loss & Damage coverage expiring.  There is no reason to be embarrassed about losing a hearing aid, as we navigate this strange, new world.  
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If you have lost a hearing aid and do not have Loss & Damage coverage from your hearing clinic, please feel free to reach out to UBHearing.  With the lowest prices in Canada on high-quality hearing aids, we take the sting out of the cost of replacing hearing aids.