Should you wear hearing aids at night

There are a number of reasons why hearing aids have not been designed to be worn at night time. With the idea your brain itself is recharging and you have no need to listen to the outside world for this period of time means that you can have a break from your hearing aid.

Comfort
Hearing aids either Behind The Ear or In The Ear can rub or put pressure on your ear especially when lying on your side, the hearing aid can push down onto that ear. It can cause soreness, become warm and irritating.

Battery Life
Using your hearing aid at night time will eat through your batteries much quicker and this is why it is important that when you take your hearing aids out at night that you open your hearing aid battery draw to reduce accidental battery consumption when you are not wearing them. If you are using a rechargeable hearing aid you will need to recharge it at some point in the day and the night time is the best time to do this when you are in bed and asleep.

Feedback
When lying on your hearing aid and it's in your ear while sleeping, your hearing aid is likely to be pressed up against your bedding and pillow. When objects are particularly close to your hearing aid microphones you may hear a lot of rustling about but you may also get the presence of whistling. Which in turn you might find keeps you up.

Allowing Your Ears to Breathe
After a long day of hearing aid use, your ears can become sweaty, warm and especially when you are just getting used to a hearing aid it can relieve the presence of a new foreign object in your ear. Allowing your ears time to breathe overnight provides them with the right amount of time for your ears to re-regulate, ready for the next day ahead.

However, what if you do still need to be able to hear and your hearing loss means that without your hearing aid you cannot hear important sounds. This could be because you may have a newborn baby you need to listen out for. A family member maybe suffering with nightmares and you want to be able to help them. You may be thinking can you hear the fire alarm if it goes off.

Let’s look at some options:

Vibrating Alerts
The use of a hearing aid is not the only option in these situations. You can get vibrating alert devices that can sit under your pillow at night time. Vibrating smoke alarms are a particularly important feature if you are severe to proudly deaf and know you will not be able to hear a smoke alarm if it goes off in your house.

There are a number of baby monitors such as the Amplicomms V160 that also come with a wake me up vibrational alarm. You can also have a vibrational wrist band such as the Summer infant babble band that you will still need to wear but it allows you to take your hearing aid out.

With any of these devices it is important to make sure the batteries are changed and the device is kept charged to provide you with the assistance you need.

Hearing Aid Implants
There are a rare number of hearing aids that sit within your ear canal that allow you to wear it all day long without needing to remove it. A hearing aid such as this is called a hearing implant that is inserted into your ear by a hearing specialist and can be left for a number of months.  Phonak Lyric is one of these. Worn 24 hours a day, all the workings are in one tiny capsule.

Article taken from:

https://www.yourhearinghelper.com