How Durable Are Your Hearing Aids?

Staying physically active is vital at all stages in life, especially as we age. Regular exercise protects our wellbeing and can even help our hearing health.

Wearing hearing aids is no impediment to exercise. They can even enhance the experience and make it more enjoyable, regardless of your preferred activity. Here’s what you need to know.

Staying Active Is Important

We know that being physically active has many benefits, including boosting your immune and cardiovascular systems, reducing symptoms of depression and anxiety, enhancing thinking, learning and judgment skills, and improving your overall wellbeing.¹

‘Staying active’ doesn’t mean committing to a gruelling workout schedule. The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare recommends all adults ‘be active’ on most days and incorporate muscle-strengthening activities into their routines.²

A daily, 30-minute walk is enough to cover the ‘be active’ guideline, while doing muscle-strengthening activities, such as callisthenics or using weights, once or twice a week covers the ‘muscle strengthening’ component. That’s a modest amount of work for potentially significant gains. 

Hearing Aids and Exercise (Including Swimming)

Modern hearing aids are pretty durable and can significantly enhance your exercise routine. They make it easier for you to communicate with teammates, instructors and exercise partners, improve your safety (especially for outdoor activities) and help you enjoy music, radio, audiobooks or podcasts as you walk, play or work out. 

All modern hearing aids have an ‘ingress protection’ or ‘IP’ rating, usually IP 68. The first digit (‘6’) is its protection against foreign objects. In this case, ‘6’ indicates they’re ‘dust-tight’. The second digit is its water protection rating. In this case, ‘8’ indicates they’re ‘protected against high pressure and temperature water jets’.³
That’s pretty good (most smartphones are also IP 68-rated). But, unless your hearing aids are specifically waterproof devices, we recommend you take them off to swim. You can otherwise risk them getting moisture or water damage.⁴

Hearing Aid Care

How, then, can you ensure you’re taking good care of your hearing aids while you exercise? Here are a few tips:⁵

• Sweatbands: if you use behind-the-ear hearing aids, consider investing in sweatbands – absorbent sleeves that fit over your hearing aids to protect them against sweat.
• Bandanas: a bandana, or a close-fitting cap or headscarf (available from most sports retailers), worn pulled down over your ears, will help keep your aids in place and protect them from incidental contact and sweat.
• Hearing Aid Clip: these short lanyards attach to a hearing aid at one end and your clothing at the other. They’re handy if your exercise involves sharp movements.
• Remote Microphone: if you’re taking an exercise class, you might ask your instructor to wear a remote microphone accessory to deliver their instructions directly to your hearing aids.
• Air Puffer: available from Audiologists and chemists, a small puffer can blow air into your hearing aid and its tubing to quickly remove water.
• Antimicrobial Wipes: these are handy for quickly cleaning your hearing aids after exercise.

Check with your hearing care professional to see what they recommend for your model.

Post-Workout Care

After exercising, you can take two more steps to keep your hearing aids in good shape. First, clean and inspect them daily. Remove any earwax, use your puffer to remove any water and give them time to dry out. Second, you might consider investing in a hearing aid dehumidifier to remove water and sanitise your hearing aids while you sleep.
Whatever your sporting preference, you’ll enjoy it more with good hearing. If you have any concerns about your hearing or if you want to find the right hearing aids to suit your active lifestyle, drop into your local Connect Hearing clinic today. The team there will be only too happy to help.

References:

1. World Health Organisation (5 October 2022), Physical Activity, World Health Organisation, accessed 20 March 2024. 

2. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (19 May 2023), Physical Activity, Australian Government, accessed 20 March 2024.

3. International Electrotechnical Commission (n.d.), IP ratings, International Electrotechnical Commission, accessed 2 March 2024.

4. Hear and Say (n.d.), What Happens if My Hearing Aids Get Wet?, accessed 20 March 2024. 

5. Healthy Hearing (8 September 2021), Tips for exercising with hearing aids, Healthy Hearing, accessed 20 March 2024.