It’s a tough pill to swallow, for many, dealing with and admitting the reality of hearing loss. Because you recognized that it was best for your health, you made the choice to go and get fitted for a hearing aid by a hearing specialist. More than likely, you immediately recognized the benefits one gets from using a hearing aid, including the ability to hear speech (even amidst the din of background noise), the potential to recover from mental decline and the ability to treat tinnitus.

But occasionally, amongst all those life-changing advantages, you get one loud, piercing and shrieking negative. You get a loud whistling noise from your hearing aids. Feedback is the more familiar term for this whistling. It’s just like what happens to a sound system when you bring a microphone too close, but it’s directly in your ears. Fortunately, this is a problem you can fix relatively easily. Stopping your hearing aid from whistling can be accomplished using the following guidelines:

1. The Way Your Hearing Aid Fits Can be Adjusted

The positioning of the hearing aid in your ear or the earmold it’s connected to is likely the most common reason for feedback. The sound can escape and reverberate through the microphone of the hearing aid if it doesn’t fit right. The consequences of that leakage can be a whistling that’s either sporadic or constant, depending on how much sound has escaped and how poorly the fit really is. A plastic tube connects certain hearing aid models with an earmold. Over time, the earmold can become unseated from its proper position due to shrinking, cracking and hardening. This movement can cause whistling, but you can correct the problem by replacing the plastic piece.

2. Get Rid of Excessive Earwax

It’s ironic to think of something like earwax, which is thought of by most people to be foul or unwelcome, as beneficial to our bodies, but it actually is. This gooey compound acts as a defense against irritants like dirt and prevents them from getting into our ears. While your ears will self-regulate the quantity of earwax you hold, through actions like Talking and chewing, there are times when a buildup of too much earwax can have negative repercussions. Feedback will unavoidably happen if you put a hearing aid on top of too much earwax. Due to the blockage from earwax, the amplified sound has nowhere to go and this is the reason for the feedback. With no clear exit, the sound comes around and passes through the microphone again. There are a few ways to eliminate an abundance of wax from your ears like letting a warm shower run into your ears. However, the best idea might be to make an appointment with a hearing specialist about properly cleaning your ears to avoid excessive buildup and subsequent whistling.

3. Uncover the Microphone

Sometimes the most effective solution is the most obvious. How many times have you seen somebody attempting to take a photo with the lens cap on their camera and watched as they became momentarily perplexed about why the picture didn’t come out? With hearing aids the same thing can occur. Whistling can happen when something is covering the device. You could even get the same outcome by covering the microphone with your hand or another object, like if you bury your ear in someone’s shoulder while giving them a hug. Uncovering the hearing aid should suffice in fixing the issue.

Here’s a bonus tip: A new hearing aid might be the best choice. Some causes for concern are being alleviated by modern hearing aid models and manufacturers are developing new technology regularly. Call us if you are interested in checking out new hearing aid technology or if you are having a problem with your current hearing aids whistling.