Fedup with Feedback? 6 Reasons Your Hearing Aids Are Squealing & How to Silence It
Acoustic feedback in your hearing aids can be like nails on a chalkboard. Whether it's a screech, whistle, buzz, squeal, or hiss, it's incredibly annoying and even downright painful.
The good news is 99.9% of the time, what's causing the unpleasant noise is easily fixable. The even better news is I'm here to help ease your nerves and help you hear — literally!
But, first things first. Let me explain what's happening with hearing aids and when you experience acoustic feedback.
How Hearing Aids Work
A hearing aid has three basic parts wrapped into one tiny package.
A Microphone — how the hearing aid receives sound and converts the sound waves to electrical signals
An Amplifier — receives the electrical signals and increases their power
A Speaker — transmits the sound, or electrical signals, to your ear
Sometimes feedback is unavoidable because of the proximity of these working parts. And that's why hearing aid manufacturers spend time and money to develop and include feedback reduction systems in their products.
Acoustic Feedback with Hearing Aids
Regardless of the cause, feedback happens when too much amplified sound leaks out of the ear around the hearing aid and gets back to the hearing aid's microphone.
As I was just mentioning, most hearing aids have features built in to reduce or cancel feedback before it ever reaches your ear. I'm sure you're wondering which hearing aids do the best job at reducing feedback. But the answer isn't as simple or straightforward as you'd hope.
It's a hot topic for research and quite the competition between the various manufacturers to offer the best feedback reduction technology. A good rule of thumb though is, as it is with most products, the higher-end the hearing aid, the more advanced feedback reduction abilities you'll typically get. [1] But even still, some methods seem to work better than others, and the best is likely yet to come in this regard as they continue to roll out new patents.
So, take heart, as research continues to modify and improve feedback cancellation mechanisms of digital hearing aids [2], even the more basic models will continue to get better at this… eventually.
The nitty-gritty of what causes feedback and how we'll troubleshoot it:
Most all of what I'm about to address should be something your audiologist discusses with you throughout the process from your initial exam and hearing test on through the hearing aid fitting process and followup.
And likewise, your audiologist should be able to identify and resolve any of these issues. So honestly, call them — or call me — and let's get you back to better hearing with your hearing aids!
If you're uncomfortable with your current hearing care provider, here are a few things to keep in mind:
I highly recommend an actual audiologist.
Why? Well, audiologists tend to have more training in how to address feedback or at least more training in the counseling aspect — determining there is an issue, finding out what's the cause, training the client to avoid it, technical solutions, and so on.
*To review the differences between types of hearing care providers, visit my last post.
But be careful — some offices do not allow the TIME your doctor needs to spend with you to address and fix this issue (and others you may have). It forces them to offer a quick and easy solution, which is not always the one that is right for you.
Know your rights. Some providers might leave you feeling like you have no option but to stay with them. I cover some of what you should expect from a good audiologist on my website page titled Your Experience and would be more than happy to offer a trustworthy second opinion. Click here to schedule a consultation with me.
Earwax buildup or blockage.
Here's something you probably didn't know. As we age, we produce more earwax to the point where 2 out of 3 seniors are likely to suffer what's known as impaction — or blockage.[3]
As you can imagine, if you have a significant buildup of earwax, it keeps the sound from reaching your ear. But it also can cause the sound to bounce back into your hearing aid, causing the annoying feedback.
The solution is to call your audiologist to schedule an appointment so they can take a peek in your ears and clean them if needed. Whatever you do, don't go digging in there on your own, you can push the earwax further down in your ear and cause severe damage. [4]
It's important to note; ear cleaning can only be done by an audiologist or medical physician as they've received the advanced training and are licensed to do so.
Loose-fitting hearing aid.
Remember, I mentioned feedback happens when too much amplified sound leaks out of the ear around the hearing aid and gets back to the microphone on the hearing aid? Well, this can become a problem with even the best-fitted hearing aids because, over time, it's possible for the ear-molds and tubes that make up the hearing aid to deteriorate.
But that's not all that might be happening. Did you know our ears grow or increase in size by an average of 0.22mm per year? That makes it as much as 1cm over 50 years. [5]
So even if you've had the same pair of hearing aids for just a few years, your ears may have grown or stretched or sagged just enough to loosen the fit of your hearing aids.
The solution is relatively simple as a tighter-fitting instrument should solve your problem. Your audiologist will take new molds of your ear and look at the tubing to see if it is beginning to crack or deteriorate.
The volume is too high.
Turning the volume up too high can cause them to loop the sound back through, which causes feedback.
The solution may be simply to turn the volume on your hearing aids back down. Note the point at which feedback begins to occur and be sure never to go past it. But be careful that your audiologist assesses whether you NEED that extra volume to get the prescribed benefit from your hearing aids. If so, then turning down the hearing aid is not doing you any favors, and your audiologist should continue further troubleshooting efforts.
User error — not putting them on correctly.
This happens to everyone at some point, especially early on!
Sometimes the solution can be as simple as taking them out, making sure of the following:
Make sure you've got them in the right ear.
If that doesn't work, try putting the receiver more securely in your ear — make sure its snug and not loose.
If neither fixes the problem, call your audiologist, and we can investigate further.
Your accessories are a hindrance.
Any object near your ear or head can cause sounds to be re-amplified by your hearing aids.
So whether you're wearing a hat, scarf, simply have your hand near your ear, are hugging someone, or have something near the back of your head like a chair or headrest, you're likely to experience some degree of feedback.
The solution…well, some would say you need to take off any head covering that might be interfering or slightly turn down the volume on your hearing aids and stop hugging people.
The real solution: make sure your audiologist understands your habits, such as wearing a hat, scarf, or napping during the day. Addressing these specific needs from the start gives them the ability to recommend the right hearing aid and fit for your needs — including the features you'll benefit from most. And at the very least, they'll be able to counsel you on realistic expectations, and training-tips-tricks that'll be specific to making your experience with hearing aids successful.
And, please, don't stop hugging your people because hugging is good for you.
Seriously, hugging can help lower our stress level, heart rate, blood pressure, and even help you stay healthy against infections like the common cold. Studies have found hugging, or any personal touch like a gentle hand on our shoulder causes our body to release soothing feel-good hormones called serotonin and oxytocin.[6]
You have the wrong hearing aid for your degree of hearing loss.
This could happen for several reasons, including a misdiagnosis, the wrong hearing device was prescribed, or maybe your hearing loss has just worsened. Unfortunately, this is the one instance you may need a different type of fitting or even a different type of instrument.
The bottom line is your audiologist will assess the situation, rule out all of the other variables, perform another hearing test, and then reevaluate the best solution for you.
The solution to reducing feedback should never be any of the following:
Many providers just turn the high pitches down.
This may make the feedback go away or lessen, but then the hearing aids are no longer set as prescribed for your hearing loss and will not be as beneficial as they should be.
Give up and live with it.
Please don't give up! If you're unhappy with the audiologist you've been seeing, I'd be happy to work with you — and I do mean work with you till we get it right!
Don't wait another second, click here to contact me and let's get you on the road to better hearing and better living.
Also, I'd love your feedback (pun intended), so comment below and share your experience, your successes, or even the challenges you've faced or are facing — you're not alone on this journey.
And remember, if life's worth living… It's worth hearing!
