It might be a surprise to many that roughly 20% of all ear infections occur in adults. Most individuals think of ear infections as a childhood illness, something that impacts mainly young kids. Ear infections are certainly 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. Additionally, when hearing aids are not properly maintained, they can become a vector for ear infection-causing diseases.
So is it a bad idea to use hearing aids with an ear infection? Overall, the answer is yes, but you may not want to. Ear infections can cause substantial 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 avoid and treat ear infection symptoms.
Do hearing aids cause ear infections?
If you’re an adult with hearing loss and you start to notice the symptoms of an ear infection, you may begin to wonder: did my hearing aids cause this ear infection? Technically, the answer is no. But more detail is needed to understand the complete story.
Almost all ear infections are caused by bacteria or a virus that gets into the ear. There are quite a few 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). In other situations, fluid buildup may result in an infection. It’s also entirely feasible that a virus or bacteria directly infected the inner ear by physical transmission.
For people who wear hearing aids, this can be a regular occurrence. The virus or bacteria hitches a ride on your hearing aid and, upon insertion, gains access to the inner ear. Proper hearing aid cleaning and maintenance is essential for this reason. In other words, the hearing aid itself doesn’t cause the ear infection, the virus or bacteria does. But your device might play a role in transmission.
Interactions between hearing aids and ear infections
So, how do ear infections and hearing aids interact? To understand what to expect, it’s useful to look at the most prevalent symptoms of an ear infection. Here are a few of the most prevalent symptoms of ear infections:
- Fluid draining from the ear
- Inflammation and swelling
- Ringing in the ears (tinnitus)
- Vertigo or dizziness
- Pain in the ear
- Ear pressure or a feeling of fullness
- Temporary loss of hearing in some cases
Not everybody will suffer from every symptom, of course. Usually, you will have obvious inflammation of the inner ear and ear pain in the infected ear. For individuals with hearing loss, these symptoms can interact unfavorably with your hearing aids. That’s because the hearing aid goes inside the infected ear (at least some of it). Because the ear canal is irritated and tender, your hearing aids may cause extra discomfort.
Also, with a hearing aid that sits mostly inside the ear canal, fluid drainage can be obstructed. Your infection and discomfort may last longer if fluid is stuck in your ear. The pain and pressure in your ears will be increased as a result of this. This pressure can be even more pronounced when you’re wearing your hearing aid.
The functionality of your hearing aid can also be impacted by the excess moisture. 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.
Ear infection & hearing aid strategies
You may now be thinking: my hearing aids annoy me when I have an ear infection… but what can I do? You can lower your risk of developing an ear infection and manage any discomfort that an ear infection might cause by taking a few steps. Those steps include the following:
- Take breaks from wearing your hearing aids: If the pain is persistent or significant, it’s all right to take a break from wearing your hearing aid until your ears are feeling 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).
- Practice good ear hygiene: It’s important to keep your ears dry and clean and routinely clean your outer ear. However, you should never stick any object inside of your ear and that includes cotton swabs. With a cotton swabs, your chance of developing an ear infection increases because you could jam earwax and debris further up into your ear canal. This is the exact opposite of what you’re likely trying to do.
- Regularly clean your hearing aids: Making sure your devices are clean can help to ensure they aren’t transferring bacteria and viruses to your ears (or, at least, that it occurs less frequently.) Ask us for assistance if you’re not certain how to properly clean and sanitize your hearing aids.
- Talk to your hearing specialist: Consider coming in to have your hearing aid re-fit if your ear infection goes away but your hearing aid is still not comfortable.
- Talk to your healthcare provider: You should talk to your doctor sooner than later if you believe you may be developing an ear infection. Treating a hearing aid as soon as possible will reduce the chance of it becoming severe or prolonged.
You most likely depend heavily on your hearing aid every day. They help you communicate with loved ones and move about the world more easily. That makes it very hard to give up your hearing aid even for short periods. However, taking a break from your hearing aids while you have an ear infection can help you recover from your illness more quickly and more comfortably. That means you can get back to enjoying what you hear faster.
It’s not uncommon for people to get ear infections. But you should still seek treatment if you detect symptoms. Contact us if you’re wondering how your hearing aid use will be impacted by an ear infection.