It may be a surprise to many people that approximately 20% of all ear infections occur in adults. Most individuals think of ear infections as a childhood ailment, something that impacts mainly young kids. And it’s true that ear infections are more prevalent in children, but they also occur frequently in adults.
For adults with hearing impairments or hearing loss, ear infections can be especially inconvenient, as they can interact with hearing aids in some unpleasant ways. Hearing aids can also harbor germs that could lead to an ear infection if they aren’t correctly cleaned and maintained.
So is it a bad plan to use hearing aids with an ear infection? In general, the answer is yes, but you may not want to. Ear infections can cause considerable swelling and discomfort in the ear, and your hearing aids might worsen those symptoms. However, there are some steps that people who use hearing aids can take to help avoid and manage ear infection symptoms.
Do hearing aids cause ear infections?
If you’re an adult with hearing loss and you start to notice the symptoms of an ear infection, you may begin to wonder: did my hearing aids cause this ear infection? Technically, the answer is no. But in order to get the complete picture we need to look at it in greater detail.
Almost all ear infections are caused by bacteria or a virus that gets into the ear. There are quite a few paths that bacteria and viruses can take on their way to becoming an infection. Sometimes, an earlier illness, such as a cold or sinus infection, will lead to an infection of the inner ear. An infection may be caused by fluid buildup in other situations. And it’s also definitely possible for viruses and bacteria to infect the inner ear via direct transmission.
For people who use hearing aids, this can be a frequent occurrence. Your hearing aid accumulates this bacteria or virus and then gets inserted directly into your ear. Proper hearing aid cleaning and maintenance is essential for this reason. In other words, the hearing aid itself doesn’t cause the ear infection, the virus or bacteria does. But your hearing aid is involved in this transmission.
How ear infections interact with hearing aids
So, how do ear infections and hearing aids interact? To understand what to expect, it’s useful to look at the most prevalent symptoms of an ear infection. Here are some of the most prevalent symptoms of ear infections:
- Swelling and inflammation
- Temporary loss of hearing in some situations
- Ringing in the ears (tinnitus)
- Dizziness or vertigo
- A feeling of fullness or pressure in the ears
- Drainage of fluid from the ear
- Ear pain
Needless to say, everyone will experience the symptoms in their own way. Typically, you will have noticeable inflammation of the inner ear and ear pain in the infected ear. These symptoms can have a negative interaction with hearing aids for individuals with hearing loss. That’s because the hearing aid goes inside the infected ear (at least some of it). Because the ear canal is inflamed and tender, your hearing aids could cause extra discomfort.
Additionally, any in-the-canal hearing aid can stop drainage. When fluids can’t drain, your discomfort might become prolonged. The pain and pressure in your ears will be increased as a result of this. When you are wearing your hearing aid, pressure can be even more unpleasant.
This added moisture can also impede the operation of your hearing aid. So your ears are in more pain and your hearing aid doesn’t really work as well as it should. Which means that wearing hearing aids when you have an ear infection can be an absolutely miserable time.
Solutions to wearing hearing aids with an ear infection
You may now be thinking: my hearing aids annoy me when I have an ear infection… but what can I do? There are several steps you can take to reduce your risk of getting ear infections and to address the discomfort that an ear infection might cause. Here are a few of those steps:
- Regularly clean your hearing aids: Keeping your device clean can reduce the chance of transferring bacteria or viruses to your ears. If you don’t know how to clean and disinfect hearing aids, talk to us for a quick tutorial.
- Talk to your healthcare provider: If you think that you have an ear infection, talk to your doctor as soon as possible. Treating a hearing aid as soon as possible will reduce the chance of it becoming severe or prolonged.
- Practice good ear hygiene: It’s essential to keep your ears dry and clean and regularly clean your outer ear. Do not try to stick any object in your ear, however, including cotton swabs. With a cotton swabs, your risk of developing an ear infection increases because you could push earwax and debris further up into your ear canal. You’re attempting to accomplish the exact opposite.
- Talk to your hearing specialist: If your ears begin to feel better, but the discomfort from your hearing aids doesn’t recede, consider talking to us to see if you can get a better fit on your devices.
- Take breaks from wearing your hearing aids: If the pain is prolonged or significant, it’s all right to take a break from wearing your hearing aid until your ears feel better. During this time off, you can adopt other ways of communicating with your loved ones (like texting or writing messages on a piece of paper, and so on).
Hearing aids are likely a crucial part of your daily life. They help you communicate with loved ones and move around the world more easily. That makes it really hard to give up your hearing aid even for short periods. However, you will have a quicker recovery from your ear infection if you take a break from wearing them until you heal up. This will help you get back to feeling better quicker.
It’s not uncommon for individuals to get ear infections. But you should still seek treatment if you notice symptoms. Contact us if you’re wondering how your hearing aid use will be affected by an ear infection.