You’re having a Zoom call with your grandchild and you’ve been looking forward to it all week! You’ll have a great time and catch-up with your cherished family members.
But when you log in you notice, to your sadness and frustration, that you can’t hear very well. You’re wearing your hearing aids but you still can’t hear anything.
You’re incredibly discouraged.
Modern marvels muffled
It’s well known that you can experience crystal clear sound with modern hearing aids. So when that doesn’t happen, that can be very depressing. Hearing aids are designed to help you hear better, right? But your hearing aids are not helping your hearing. Actually, they’re making everything sound muffled. The hearing aid itself may not even be the issue.
Why do my hearing aids sound muffled?
So why do voices sound like Charlie Brown’s teacher if your hearing aids are functioning correctly? Well, there are a couple things you can do to correct the issue.
Earwax
You’d be rich if you had a dime for every time earwax caused trouble. The issue with your hearing aid could be an accumulation of earwax against the microphone. Amplification is muffled when earwax blocks your hearing aid’s ability to detect sound.
You might be able to determine if earwax is the problem by:
- Power-up the hearing aid. The problem is likely to be the microphone (probably wax buildup) and not the speaker if all of the start-up sounds are normal when you turn on the hearing aid.
- Doing a visual check. Don’t simply put your hearing aid in without taking a good look at it. Clean it thoroughly if you notice any earwax.
It’s also possible that earwax has accumulated not on your hearing aid but inside of your ear. In those instances, make sure to clean out your ears in a safe way (a cotton swab, by the way, is not a safe way). If the muffled issue remains after you’ve cleaned up your hearing aid and your ears, you’ll have to continue troubleshooting.
Infection
Infection will be the next thing to consider if earwax isn’t accountable. This could be a normal ear infection. Or it might be an inner ear infection. Both are worth setting up an appointment for an evaluation.
Swelling of the ear canal and middle ear can be the result of both kinds of infection. This swelling blocks the transmission of sound and, consequently, your hearing is muffled. Treatments may include some antibiotics. Once the infection clears, your hearing will usually go back to normal.
Batteries
You just need to change your battery. As hearing aids drain, they sometimes start to sound, well, muffled (you can see why this would be something to check). This is still true even if your batteries are rechargeable. It’s possible, in many cases, that your hearing aids will be crystal clear again after you switch out the batteries with new ones.
Hearing loss
If you’re still having difficulty hearing, don’t dismiss the possibility that your hearing loss has changed. If you haven’t had a hearing exam in the last year or so, think about scheduling an appointment. While you’re here getting your hearing aid reprogrammed we can also do an inspection and cleaning.
Don’t let it linger
If you try all this troubleshooting and nothing really helps, it’s certainly worth taking some time to come in for a consultation. If the muffled sounds linger, you could find yourself using your hearing aids less (or turning up the volume on your TV again). And all of that could start causing hearing damage again.
Letting it linger is not a wise plan. Schedule an appointment with us so you can get back to hearing before that big family get-together. You’ll have more fun if you can actually hear what everyone is saying!