It might be a surprise to many that roughly 20% of all ear infections happen to adults. Most individuals think of ear infections as a childhood ailment, something that affects primarily young kids. Ear infections are definitely more prevalent in children but adults do get them too.
For adults with hearing impairments or hearing loss, ear infections can be particularly inconvenient, as they can interact with hearing aids in some unpleasant ways. Hearing aids can also shelter germs that could result in an ear infection if they aren’t correctly cleaned and maintained.
So, you may be wondering: Can I wear hearing aids while I have an ear infection? Overall, 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 may exacerbate those symptoms. However, there are some steps that people who use hearing aids can take to help prevent and manage ear infection symptoms.
Do hearing aids cause ear infections?
You might be wondering if your hearing aid is the cause of your ear infection if you’re an adult with hearing impairment. Technically, the answer is no. But more nuance is required to understand the complete story.
Nearly all ear infections are caused by bacteria or a virus that gets into the ear. There are a number of paths that bacteria and viruses can take on their way to becoming an infection. In some circumstances, the inner ear becomes infected after a previous illness (for instance, a sinus infection or a cold). An infection might be caused by fluid buildup in other situations. It’s also entirely possible that a virus or bacteria directly infected the inner ear by physical transmission.
For individuals 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. That’s why it is critical for those who have hearing impairments to correctly maintain and clean their devices. So the virus or bacteria is really the cause of the infection, not the hearing aid itself. But your hearing aid is involved in this transmission.
Contact between hearing aids and ear infections
So what is the degree of interaction between hearing aids and ear infections? To know what to expect, it’s helpful to look at the most prevalent symptoms of an ear infection. In general, ear infections will have the following symptoms:
- Ear pressure or a feeling of fullness
- In some instances, temporary hearing loss
- Tinnitus (a ringing in the ears)
- Pain in the ear
- Inflammation and swelling
- Discharge of fluid from the ear
- Dizziness or vertigo
Needless to say, everyone will experience the symptoms in their own way. Typically, you will have noticeable swelling of the inner ear and ear pain in the infected ear. These symptoms can have an adverse interaction with hearing aids for those with hearing loss. That’s because your hearing aid will most likely (at least partially) reside within the ear canal. Your hearing aids might cause added discomfort as they aggravate the tender inflamed infected ear.
Additionally, any in-the-canal hearing aid can stop drainage. When fluids cannot drain, your discomfort may become prolonged. The pain and pressure in your ears will be increased because of this. This pressure can be even more marked when you’re wearing your hearing aid.
This increased moisture can also impede the function of your hearing aid. So your hearing aids aren’t working at peak performance and your ears are in pain. This means that you will have a terrible time wearing your hearing aid while you have an ear infection.
Solutions to wearing hearing aids with an ear infection
You might now be thinking: my hearing aids annoy me when I have an ear infection… but what can I do? There are a number of steps you can take to reduce your risk of getting ear infections and to manage the discomfort that an ear infection might cause. Here are a few of those steps:
- Practice good ear hygiene: It’s important to keep your ears dry and clean and regularly clean your outer ear. However, you should never stick any object in your ear and that includes 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. This is the exact opposite of what you’re likely attempting to accomplish.
- Talk to your healthcare provider: You should speak with your doctor sooner than later if you believe you might be developing an ear infection. The sooner you address the ear infection, the less severe or prolonged your symptoms may be.
- Talk to your hearing specialist: If your ears begin to feel better, but the discomfort from your hearing aids doesn’t recede, think about 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 okay to take a break from wearing your hearing aid until your ears feel better. During this time off, you can adopt other means of communicating with your loved ones (such as texting or writing messages on a piece of paper, and so on).
- Regularly clean your hearing aids: Keeping your device clean can lessen the chance of transmitting 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.
You most likely depend heavily on your hearing aid every day. They help you get around your world more easily and have better communication with your family and friends. Which means that these little devices can often be difficult to give up, even for a short time. However, you will have a speedier recovery from your ear infection if you take a break from wearing them until you heal up. That means you can get back to enjoying what you hear faster.
It’s not unusual for people to get ear infections. But you should still get treatment if you notice symptoms. Contact us if you’re wondering how your hearing aid use will be affected by an ear infection.