When I wear a face mask, I pull the face mask straps to the back of my neck and hold them with a paper clip. The straps are under the ears and do not affect the hearing aids at all.
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When I wear my “around town” cloth masks, I have difficulty not flicking my HAs off my ear. I am fortunate that I have the click domes that so far have not resulted in my hearing aids flying away from me. When I wear the N95 mask at work, I actually take out my hearing aids, because I actually have had more problems even though they are not a round the ear fit. I can get away with this because my need for the N95 is only when I am doing a short duration cleaning job with no other people around, so my hearing is not impacted by my lack of HAs
I assume my hearing aids are working as designed when they make me forget I am wearing them. I’ve had a few near misses when removing my mask. Fortunately, I’ve not lost a HA, but it’s something I worry about enough that I only wear a mask when it is required.
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Something worth trying is a different technique for removing the mask. I was having issues doing it as well until I realized that I needed to pull the loop from front to back when I am removing the mask. After I figured that out, no more close calls …
A
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My wife made my mask and it goes around the neck and on the back of the head. There just isn’t any realstate left behing my ears.
And luckly I do not got any where I need to wear a mask most of the time.
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Re Tether Style HA Keepers: My cheapo tether of nylon fishing line/beading filament has been working great for three months. For me, it works better than the sock-style commercial tether, which made the HA too bulky & muffled.
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The CM Almy mask is good, and delivered fast (but I am an hour away from the factory). The over-head style does not hook and sling-shot my aid. Also I can slide it down my neck and pull it up again; the earloops style I have to take off and put away. (Yes, loops will hang on one ear but not securely.) The “USA” tag is VERY nice. The elastic on mine is less beefy than in their pictures and may not last.
CM Almy Face Mask in Blue Cotton-Lycra, with Elastic Headband
They ARE a church-supply house. I had to pick my denomination and rank. I realize this is so clerical robes get the correct buttons and trim, does not apply to a mask, but is built into the ordering system. I think I said I was nondenominational layperson.
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My Audi showed me a removal technique that works well. Using your index finger put it under the top band 1 to 2 inches in front of each ear. Push straight up about 2 inches then push it straight back until band releases from the ear and aid. Not perfect but works most of the time.
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Has anyone tried the ear gears that have the tiny loop sewn in that you put through your glasses’ bows? I have plastic bows and I wonder how well they work. I generally wear my glasses frames touching my ear with the HAs either on top or to the side of the frame. This sometimes leads to the HA moving around which feels funny and sometimes makes sounds. I’d like to try these ear gears but I’d like to hear from someone who has actually used the ones with loops.
I was afraid of losing a HA when taking off a mask that had the ear loops also. So when I was making masks, I found a pleated version that had ties. Those seem to work well in general. I still have some problems as I also wear glasses (dealing with the fogging issue). I am currently training for my first 10K and the mask was just not comfortable, so I borrowed one of my daughters running buffs – similar to the pictures. The buff works great – I can pull it down easily when I need more air but it is easy to pull up when coming close to another person. I found quite a few available on Amazon and ended up buying a package of 6. I have an appointment this afternoon with my Costco fitter (I got the KS9s in November) for the firmware update and I plan on wearing the buff instead of a mask with ties as I suspect the buff will make it easier to take the HAs on and off.
As time goes on I find I’m getting better and better with the face mask. Unfortunately
I found these “mask strap extenders” and they work very well to hold the mask strap/sting behind the head:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B088KPNH48/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
They’re a soft silicone and have nice button-like circles to hold the mask strap/string in place. They’re also great for dropping the mask down when not needed so it’s easy to pull it up when need. I bought something similar early on but they were stiff plastic with half-circle cuts that were supposed to hold the mask strap/string. I tried them once but they were too difficult to get the mask strip/string to hold in the half-circle cuts.
The extenders also have the advantage of routing the elastics away from the back of the ears. When I started to wear masks and looked in the mirror I was a bit horrified to find that I looked allot like Alfred E Neuman of Mad Magazine with my ears sticking out at a right angle to my head! Also there is no pulling at the back of the ears which is a bit of a relief.
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Was curious. Is there any kind of insurance I can get to cover the loss of one of my hearing aids?
George R
Good question. I lost one 4 years ago. Not only did I not have insurance, I found it very hard to find and buy just one. Every one wanted to sell me a pair and we’re not helpful when I wanted to just match what I had.
Insurance is a good question.
I am sure it can be purchased, trick is, how does the claim process work.
With my previous HAs it was a major problem. The dome in the ear canal always popped loose. Now, that I have a mold they never come loose because the mold is secured by design to require a twist to come loose. But the mask loops are still a pain to untangle.
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My mantra:
- hearing aids,
- glasses,
- mask.
- Pick 2.
Not a great solution, though.
When I do use all 3, I only remove the mask when I’m in the car and can capture the errant aids.
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i made a mask and decided to put elastic all the way round head. one goes on back of neck, the other high on head. its been super good so far. i have not struggled with aids being pushed away. i do notice however there is more scratching noise from hair rubbing the elastic. i kind of am getting used to it. here we live ina city where as of yesterday, all indoor places and transportation have a mandatory mask wearing law. 
and here, hard of hearing or deaf ppl are not exempt.
I made my own masks too with the same feature of two bands of elastic around back of head/neck. It works well when out and going in and out of shops as can pull down below chin and it does not get lost. My h aid was a victim of covid also as flipped off by a disposable mask. The inner dome had a habit of working its way out over the day. Now with replacement and have rigged up a safety chain from a find gold bracelet that links to the wire of aid and then into back of an earring. I think I might bother with this set up when travelling.
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Anyone have any experience with an aid to help prevent RIC hearing aid loss for someone who wears glasses and face mask?