If you’re one of America’s 35 million hearing impaired citizens, your hearing aids are among the most important devices in your life. They have the ability to bring a sense of normality and independence to your world. As such, you’ll want to take great care of those precious items at all times. To do this, you’ll naturally have many questions to ask, and the frequency of replacements and repairs is easily one of the most vital.

As any hearing specialist will confirm, there is no set time frame for how long your devices will last. Instead, you should know to look out for the signs that an upgrade or tweak is required. Here are four that you must look out for.

Newer technology is available

Hearing aid technology evolves at a rapid rate as audiologists gain a deeper understanding of the ears as well as the growing needs of a modern user. While not all advances are significant enough to inspire an upgrade, staying abreast of the latest facilities is key. In some cases, the new developments could change everything to provide you with a far more comfortable experience.

Those developments can range across a host of factors. From increased discreteness or a better fit to new features, such as improved handling of alarms or cell phone calls. If the latest products can enhance your quality of daily life, they should not be ignored.  

Your hearing prescription has changed

It’s one thing to have hearing aids that work, but it’s a little redundant if they aren’t built around your specific needs. When you suffer from sensorineural hearing loss, it’s likely that the damage will worsen over time. This can consequently lead to restricted performance, regardless of the quality of those devices.

This is why anybody suffering from hearing loss, sensorineural or not, should have regular hearing tests. An accurate analysis of your current requirements is the only way that you’ll gain the benefits of hearing aids designed for you.  

Lifestyle changes

If your hearing problems aren’t too severe, hearing aids may restore clarity to perfection. For millions of Americans, however, those devices are primarily used to help you cope with the loss. Different types of hearing aids are built with varying activities in mind. Therefore, if your life situations have changed, it may be worth thinking about a new kind of device.

A change of job, hobby, or home could alter your habits massively. Write down a list of situations where hearing aids are most likely to make a positive impact in your life, and use them as your priorities. Focus on those factors, and you should find a suitable solution.

Damaged hearing aids

It’s probable that you’ll wear the hearing aids for several hours on a daily basis. Therefore, even the most careful user owner cannot escape the fact that devices can become faulty or broken. Whether it’s a snapped piece to the amplification simply not working, settling for less than perfection is never the answer. A replacement or repair job is essential in those situations.

In some cases, it’ll be something as simple as replacing the battery. However, it could be a more severe issue where buying a new item is the better financial solution. Either way, ensuring that you have healthy hearing aids will maximize the level of improvement. That’s the least you deserve.