Your hearing aids are your line of communication to the hearing world, which is why it’s important to take good care of them and keep track of them. Unfortunately, they’re so small that they’re easy to misplace, and they’re so comfortable you may not even notice if they fall out of your ears.
If you lose your hearing aid, you don’t need to panic. Follow these steps instead.
Try Your Hearing Aid Tracking App
Your smartphone might be the key to finding your hearing aids. Many modern hearing aids are compatible with smartphone apps that have a tracking feature. This feature can tell you where your hearing aids are if they’re still connected via Bluetooth, or tell you where they were when they were last connected.
Each manufacturer’s app is different, but all involve similar steps to find the tracking portion. Below are the instructions for the Oticon ON app:
- Open the app.
- On the tab bar, tap “Hearing aids.”
- Tap “Find my hearing aids.”
If this doesn’t work or if your hearing aid isn’t compatible with smartphones, try the following tips.
Stop Where You Are
As soon as you realize your hearing aid is missing, stop in your tracks and tell everyone around you to do the same to avoid the hearing aid getting stepped on. Start doing a body scan, starting with your hair, then your hood, shirt collar and pockets. Finally, check the ground where you were just walking to ensure it’s not in your immediate surroundings.
Retrace Your Steps
Next, revisit everywhere you’ve been between the time you know you were last wearing your hearing aid until the moment you realized it was missing. Think hard about any places you took off a hat or coat and take extra care looking in those areas.
Report Them Missing
If you visited any businesses or public places, contact them and let them know you lost your hearing aid in their establishment. They can keep an eye out and call you if they turn up. If you don’t hear back within a day or two, call them again to check in.
Contact Your Audiologist
Your audiologist is a great resource both for helping you with any tracking features of your device or for looking into whether your hearing aids are covered for a one-time loss and damage warranty. To learn more about the warranty on your devices or to schedule an appointment with your audiologist, call The Hear Care Center today.