In the world of hearing aids, where cutting-edge technology reigns supreme, it's a tiny, often overlooked component that can make the difference between crystal-clear sound and frustrating distortion. Welcome to the world of wax traps – the unsung heroes of hearing aid maintenance.
Since the digital revolution of 1996, hearing aids have undergone a remarkable transformation. They've shrunk in size, gained Bluetooth capabilities for direct audio streaming, and significantly improved speech intelligibility and the ability to separate speech from background noise. The industry has even pioneered technologies like LE Audio Bluetooth with Auracast capabilities, pushing the boundaries of what's possible in consumer electronics.
But despite these impressive advancements, there's one natural force that can bring even the most sophisticated hearing aid to its knees: ear wax.
Ear wax, or cerumen, is a combination of dead skin cells, hair, and waxy secretions called cerumen from the skin inside your ear canals. In moderation, it's beneficial – it's antimicrobial, traps dirt and dust, and prevents dryness and itching. However, when it comes to hearing aids, too much of this good thing can spell trouble.
1. Impaction: Excessive ear wax can create a wall inside your ear canal, effectively acting like an earplug. This can reduce your hearing sensitivity by a whopping 30 decibels – on top of your existing hearing loss. Suddenly, your carefully programmed hearing aids become virtually worthless, as they're not accounting for this additional obstruction.
2. Feedback: That annoying high-pitched whistle or squeal you sometimes hear from hearing aids? It's often caused by ear wax. When sound from the hearing aid bounces off the wax and re-enters the device's microphone, it creates a feedback loop. Surprisingly, this can happen even with minimal wax buildup.
3. Receiver Blockage: This is the most critical issue. Ear wax can plug up the receiver tip of your hearing aids – the part where sound exits into your ear canal. When this happens, even the most advanced, expensive hearing aid becomes completely ineffective.
Enter the wax trap – a tiny yet crucial component designed to prevent these issues. Hearing aid manufacturers, like Phonak, have developed ingenious solutions to tackle the ear wax problem.
Phonak's CeruShield wax traps, introduced in 2018 for their Marvel line of hearing aids, can trap a significant amount of wax before sound output is affected. To change these traps, users remove the rubber dome, rotate the faceplate to reveal a new trap and a disposal area, then swap out the old trap for a new one.
However, recognizing that some users found this system challenging, Phonak developed an alternative. Their new SS5 receiver wires are compatible with CeruStop wax traps, which use a simpler stick tool for trap exchange. This system involves removing a new stick from a butterfly case, using one end to extract the clogged trap, then flipping the stick to insert a fresh trap from the opposite end.
The importance of these wax traps cannot be overstated. Your hearing aids spend most of their time in your ear canals, constantly exposed to ear wax. Even if you're not a heavy wax producer, it will eventually make its way into your devices. When this happens, all other functions of your hearing aid become irrelevant – if sound can't get out, it doesn't matter how well it's processing or connecting to your smartphone.
This is why the ability to change your own wax traps is critical for long-term success with hearing aids. It's not just about having the right technology; it's about maintaining that technology effectively. A hearing aid user who can confidently and regularly change their wax traps is much more likely to enjoy consistent, high-quality sound.
Remember, any hearing aid is only as good as its weakest link. Fortunately, in most cases, that weakest link – the wax trap – is designed to be easily replaceable. By understanding the importance of this tiny component and mastering the art of changing it, you can ensure your sophisticated hearing aids continue to perform at their best, providing you with the clear, rich sound you deserve.
So, the next time you're marveling at the advanced features of your hearing aids, spare a thought for the humble wax trap. It may be small, but its impact on your hearing experience is anything but microscopic.
While understanding the importance of wax traps is crucial, it's equally important to have professional support in maintaining your hearing aids. Regular check-ups and maintenance can significantly extend the life of your devices and ensure they're always performing at their best.
That's where HearingUp providers come in. These audiologists are committed to following best practices in hearing care, including proper hearing aid maintenance and wax management. They can provide expert guidance on changing wax traps, clean your hearing aids professionally, and address any other concerns you might have about your devices.
Don't wait for your hearing aids to malfunction before seeking help. Preventative maintenance can save you time, money, and frustration in the long run. We encourage you to schedule a hearing aid maintenance appointment with a HearingUp provider near you. These professionals can ensure your hearing aids, including those crucial wax traps, are in top condition, allowing you to enjoy clear, uninterrupted sound every day.
Remember, your hearing health is an ongoing journey, and you don't have to navigate it alone. Find a HearingUp provider near you and take the next step towards optimal hearing aid performance and better hearing health.
This one little microscopic component will control whether or not your hearing aids will actually work. Hi guys. Cliff Olson, Doctor of Audiology and founder of Applied Hearing Solutions in Phoenix, Arizona. And in this video I'm talking about every hearing aids weakest link, the wax trap. Now, to provide you with some context, modern day hearing aids have become significantly more technologically advanced since the digital revolution that began in 1996. This digital revolution not only made hearing aids significantly smaller and added Bluetooth capabilities to stream audio directly from your smart device into both of your ears, but it also made speech more intelligible through hearing aids and allowed hearing aids to separate speech from background noise better. Now we're even starting to see technological advances spearheaded by the hearing aid industry that's working its way into the consumer electronic market like LE Audio Bluetooth that has Auracast capabilities. But as advanced as hearing aid technology has become, there is one thing that will bring your hearing aids to their knees, and that is ear wax. Ear wax is a combination of dead skin cells, hair and waxy secretions called sarin from the skin inside of your ear canals. Now, some ear wax is actually a good thing. It's antimicrobial. It traps dirt and dust, and it lines the skin of the ear canal to prevent dryness and itching. However, just like anything else, too much of a good thing is a bad thing and earwax is no exception. But before I explain exactly why ear wax is such a huge problem for even the most advanced hearing aids in the world, do me a huge favor and click the like button. It really helps out the channel. And if you are not yet subscribed to the channel with notifications turned on, go ahead and do that as well, because that ensures that you never miss one of my newly released videos and I publish a ton of new videos every single week. That being said, it's greatly appreciated and huge shout out to Phonak for sponsoring today's video, but more on them in a little bit. Ear wax can be a huge problem for hearing aid users for three different reasons. The first reason is it can actually create a wall of wax inside of your ear called an impaction. If this happens, it's like wearing an earplug inside of your ear canals. It will drop your hearing sensitivity by a massive 30 decibels in addition to the hearing loss that you already have. This means that your hearing aids will become virtually worthless because your hearing aids will be programmed to your hearing loss prescription, which will not be taking into account this additional 30 decibel reduction. The second reason that ear wax can be such a huge problem is something known as feedback. You know, the high pitched whistling or squealing sound that occurs anytime that someone who's speaking on stage with a microphone walks too close to a speaker. Well, the exact same thing can happen with hearing aids. In fact, you probably even know someone who has hearing aids and those hearing aids whistle uncontrollably and maybe that person is you. The reason why ear wax causes feedback is because when sound is being put into your ear, it bounces off the ear wax and comes back outside of your ear canal and recycles through the microphone of your hearing aids, causing that whistling sound. And the crazy thing is, is that you don't even have to have a ton of earwax inside of your ear canals for this to occur. But the third and biggest reason why ear wax is such a huge problem for hearing aid users is that it can plug up the receiver tip of your hearing aids, which is where sound typically comes out of your hearing aid into your ear canal, and it renders your hearing aids completely ineffective. This is why hearing aid manufacturers like Phac, today's video sponsor develop these ingenious little inventions called wax traps, also known as wax guards or wax filters to prevent this from occurring. Here's the thing, if you wear hearing aids, your ear wax is going to eventually work its way into the tip of the receiver of your hearing aids and block the sound from entering your ear. What you need to be able to do is have a way to prevent that ear wax from permanently damaging your receiver. Phonak CeruShield and CeruStop wax guards are tiny little filters that prevent your earwax from damaging the receivers on your Phonak Audeo and Phonak Virto hearing aids. Take a look at this side-by-side comparison of a receiver tip that has been completely blocked by earwax versus a clean receiver tip. These wax traps are the weakest link of your hearing aids by design because all you have to do is remove the old wax strap that is plugged with earwax and replace it with a brand new one. The CeruShield wax traps by Phonak were originally developed in 2018 for the Marvel line of hearing aids, and they could trap a lot of wax before the receiver tip got completely plugged. To use the CeruShield, you simply remove your rubber dome to expose the old wax trap and rotate the face plate to reveal an empty trash can along with a new replacement wax trap. Then you remove your old plugged wax trap for step one and replace it with a new wax trap for step two, followed by replacing your rubber dome. Now, even though the zero shield wax traps did a great job of trapping a ton of wax before cutting out the sound of your hearing aids, there were some people who had a lot of difficulty working with this particular style of wax trap, which is why Phone Act developed their new SDS 5 receiver wires that are now compatible with the tried and true CeruStop wax traps that use a stick tool to exchange the wax trap rather than the CeruShield. Now, trust me when I say this has both hearing care professionals and hearing aid users extremely excited to change these wax traps and the SDS 5 receivers. All you need to do is remove a new stick from the butterfly case, use the removal end to take out the clogged wax trap, flip the stick over and replace it with the new wax trap on the other end. For many people, this technique of exchanging an old dirty wax trap for a brand new clean wax trap will be much easier. And this is extremely important as a hearing aid user because if your hearing aids ever stop working, chances are the culprit is a dirty wax trap. Remember, your hearing aids live inside your ear canals virtually all day, every day, subjecting them to ear wax. And even if you don't produce a lot of ear wax, it will eventually work its way into the wax trap of your devices. And here's the thing, even if everything else is working perfectly fine with your hearing aids, meaning when you take 'em out of the charger, they're powering on or even able to connect them wirelessly up to your smartphone and it says that they're connected, it won't matter because if sound can't make it out of the hearing aids into your ears, it will make even the most premium hearing aids in the world completely useless. All that being said, your ability to change your own wax traps is critically important for long-term success with whichever hearing aids you use. This is why finding a hearing aid that uses a wax trap system that you are actually able to use effectively can be the difference between you having success with hearing aids and not having success with hearing aids. And remember, any hearing aid is only as good as its weakest link, and fortunately for you, that weakest link is usually the wax trap.
This one little microscopic component will control whether or not your hearing aids will actually work. Hi guys. Cliff Olson, Doctor of Audiology and founder of Applied Hearing Solutions in Phoenix, Arizona. And in this video I'm talking about every hearing aids weakest link, the wax trap. Now, to provide you with some context, modern day hearing aids have become significantly more technologically advanced since the digital revolution that began in 1996. This digital revolution not only made hearing aids significantly smaller and added Bluetooth capabilities to stream audio directly from your smart device into both of your ears, but it also made speech more intelligible through hearing aids and allowed hearing aids to separate speech from background noise better. Now we're even starting to see technological advances spearheaded by the hearing aid industry that's working its way into the consumer electronic market like LE Audio Bluetooth that has Auracast capabilities. But as advanced as hearing aid technology has become, there is one thing that will bring your hearing aids to their knees, and that is ear wax. Ear wax is a combination of dead skin cells, hair and waxy secretions called sarin from the skin inside of your ear canals. Now, some ear wax is actually a good thing. It's antimicrobial. It traps dirt and dust, and it lines the skin of the ear canal to prevent dryness and itching. However, just like anything else, too much of a good thing is a bad thing and earwax is no exception. But before I explain exactly why ear wax is such a huge problem for even the most advanced hearing aids in the world, do me a huge favor and click the like button. It really helps out the channel. And if you are not yet subscribed to the channel with notifications turned on, go ahead and do that as well, because that ensures that you never miss one of my newly released videos and I publish a ton of new videos every single week. That being said, it's greatly appreciated and huge shout out to Phonak for sponsoring today's video, but more on them in a little bit. Ear wax can be a huge problem for hearing aid users for three different reasons. The first reason is it can actually create a wall of wax inside of your ear called an impaction. If this happens, it's like wearing an earplug inside of your ear canals. It will drop your hearing sensitivity by a massive 30 decibels in addition to the hearing loss that you already have. This means that your hearing aids will become virtually worthless because your hearing aids will be programmed to your hearing loss prescription, which will not be taking into account this additional 30 decibel reduction. The second reason that ear wax can be such a huge problem is something known as feedback. You know, the high pitched whistling or squealing sound that occurs anytime that someone who's speaking on stage with a microphone walks too close to a speaker. Well, the exact same thing can happen with hearing aids. In fact, you probably even know someone who has hearing aids and those hearing aids whistle uncontrollably and maybe that person is you. The reason why ear wax causes feedback is because when sound is being put into your ear, it bounces off the ear wax and comes back outside of your ear canal and recycles through the microphone of your hearing aids, causing that whistling sound. And the crazy thing is, is that you don't even have to have a ton of earwax inside of your ear canals for this to occur. But the third and biggest reason why ear wax is such a huge problem for hearing aid users is that it can plug up the receiver tip of your hearing aids, which is where sound typically comes out of your hearing aid into your ear canal, and it renders your hearing aids completely ineffective. This is why hearing aid manufacturers like Phac, today's video sponsor develop these ingenious little inventions called wax traps, also known as wax guards or wax filters to prevent this from occurring. Here's the thing, if you wear hearing aids, your ear wax is going to eventually work its way into the tip of the receiver of your hearing aids and block the sound from entering your ear. What you need to be able to do is have a way to prevent that ear wax from permanently damaging your receiver. Phonak CeruShield and CeruStop wax guards are tiny little filters that prevent your earwax from damaging the receivers on your Phonak Audeo and Phonak Virto hearing aids. Take a look at this side-by-side comparison of a receiver tip that has been completely blocked by earwax versus a clean receiver tip. These wax traps are the weakest link of your hearing aids by design because all you have to do is remove the old wax strap that is plugged with earwax and replace it with a brand new one. The CeruShield wax traps by Phonak were originally developed in 2018 for the Marvel line of hearing aids, and they could trap a lot of wax before the receiver tip got completely plugged. To use the CeruShield, you simply remove your rubber dome to expose the old wax trap and rotate the face plate to reveal an empty trash can along with a new replacement wax trap. Then you remove your old plugged wax trap for step one and replace it with a new wax trap for step two, followed by replacing your rubber dome. Now, even though the zero shield wax traps did a great job of trapping a ton of wax before cutting out the sound of your hearing aids, there were some people who had a lot of difficulty working with this particular style of wax trap, which is why Phone Act developed their new SDS 5 receiver wires that are now compatible with the tried and true CeruStop wax traps that use a stick tool to exchange the wax trap rather than the CeruShield. Now, trust me when I say this has both hearing care professionals and hearing aid users extremely excited to change these wax traps and the SDS 5 receivers. All you need to do is remove a new stick from the butterfly case, use the removal end to take out the clogged wax trap, flip the stick over and replace it with the new wax trap on the other end. For many people, this technique of exchanging an old dirty wax trap for a brand new clean wax trap will be much easier. And this is extremely important as a hearing aid user because if your hearing aids ever stop working, chances are the culprit is a dirty wax trap. Remember, your hearing aids live inside your ear canals virtually all day, every day, subjecting them to ear wax. And even if you don't produce a lot of ear wax, it will eventually work its way into the wax trap of your devices. And here's the thing, even if everything else is working perfectly fine with your hearing aids, meaning when you take 'em out of the charger, they're powering on or even able to connect them wirelessly up to your smartphone and it says that they're connected, it won't matter because if sound can't make it out of the hearing aids into your ears, it will make even the most premium hearing aids in the world completely useless. All that being said, your ability to change your own wax traps is critically important for long-term success with whichever hearing aids you use. This is why finding a hearing aid that uses a wax trap system that you are actually able to use effectively can be the difference between you having success with hearing aids and not having success with hearing aids. And remember, any hearing aid is only as good as its weakest link, and fortunately for you, that weakest link is usually the wax trap.
Discover Dr. Cliff Olson's top picks for the best Bluetooth hearing aids of 2024, featuring groundbreaking features and unbiased reviews to help you find the perfect fit
Read MoreDr. Cliff dives deep into the new ReSound Nexia hearing aid, highlighting its impressive features such as compact size, diverse receiver options, advanced Bluetooth compa
Read MoreIn our practice as audiologists, we emphasize the critical importance of precise hearing assessments and the use of real ear measurements (REM) to ensure optimal hearing.
Read MoreDr. Cliff Olson discusses the best receiver-in-canal (RIC) hearing aids of 2024, featuring his top five pics.
Read MoreRecent research has discovered that hearing loss treatment could in fact slow down the cognitive decline.
Read MoreDesigned from the inside out, the new Genesis AI family is the product of years of meticulous research and development a
Read More