Here’s what works for me. I take off 1 side and hearing aid &d then the 2nd side. Mask goes in my pocket and I put hearing aids back in. I never lost or have to look for my hearing aids.
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Wearing masks is a nuance, especially if you have hearing aids and glasses. But IMO it’s necessary. I don’t want to catch COVID, and if I have it and am asymptomatic, I don’t want to give it to anyone. So when I go out, I’m masked.
The around the head/neck straps make removing the mask and not the aids a lot easier.
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I got these so the mask loops are not on my ears, only HAs and glasses.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08BK4FZVD/
These have been working OK in light use. I rig them high on the back of my hair so the mask-loops do not come near my ears. (But I have to doft my hat.)
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As everyone else said, get those straps to keep the mask elastics off your ears. I wear glasses and it was just too many things over my ears. With the straps, you can even double mask without knocking them off.
I wear masks that tie behind the head for this very reason. I have always worn Widex HAs so I don’t know if the following precautions are available on other HAs: I had my audiologist add an audible warning to my programming. If one of my aids comes out the other aid nags me three times, in an annoying voice to “Check partner”. This happens even if I am just changing a battery. Also on my aids, which don’t have a molded earpiece, but the domes, there is a tiny slot, just where the wire leads into the receiver into which a miniscule clear plastic anchor can be inserted. It looks like a miniature zip tie. It curls against the hollow of the ear and exerts just enough tension to keep the dome covered receiver that is inserted into the canal in place - even if the over-the-ear part gets knocked off. It has saved me many times - even from pulling a sweater over my head or whipping glasses off. I have realized that it’s been dangling for goodness knows how long, but it’s still there.
Jeff, no I don’t suddenly go deaf when the aid is removed as only part of my hearing is lost. No, I don’t feel the loss either as I have smaller domes for comfort and sadly that is probably why I lost my aid last week.
It is possible that I noticed when I lost it as I only realised this as I removed my mask. Apart from a close search around where I thought I had lost it and back tracking to the car, there was no sign. It might have been thrown but I have no idea.
As jkish said, I had been in the shower and only realised I was still wearing them when I realised I could hear.
My cheap NHS aids have such a wire protruding from the main tube. It certainly works.
I have Phonak, I shall ask my audiologist next week see what might be available.
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I believe you are describing the concha lock, some call it a kick stand, receiver lock but you are right, it’s there to help hold the receiver/dome in place.
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When I got mine a a few years ago they were constantly slingshotting across teh room, or going in teh trash with the mask. Now I use two ideas.
For a disposable mask, when I don it I make sure the ear loop goes between the HA and my head. When I doff it, I use my fore finger, nail up, starting at the temple and slide it under the loop and horizontally toward the back of my head until it clears the HAs.
For cloth masks I use a piece of twill tape, string, oversize rubber band, or whatever is handy attached to the ear loops to create a head strap. I adjust it so the ear loop runs below my ears, then is stretched above the HAs while wearing it.
Fred F
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Easiest method I found is to use a strip of velcro for cable between the mask loops .
I wear glasses as well as hearing aids and find the following style of mask very comfortable and convenient. I can just flip down the mask and let it hang around my neck when not needed.
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Yes, I recall this advice from earlier on. Its a question of training until it becomes a habit. As I wear a mask perhaps less than once a week it is not easy to learn.
Regarding a tie between aids, I see my Phonak aids have a tiny slot in the body.
What slot are you referring to? You may be talking about the mics. There really isn’t anywhere to thread anything through the aid itself.
Speedy, terminology is always an issue.
I am referring to the Phonak Marvel M-R.
Looking at the aid body - the bit that goes behind the ear. There is a rocker switch. On the moulding of the rocker switch mount, at the wire end, is a tiny slot, about 1 millimetre long and about a third of a millimetre wide; it is smaller than the wire. There is a similar slot on the other side. Hold it to the light and you can see all the way through.
Using this there are several possibilities.
Sure sounds like you are describing the hearing aid mic locations. That would be a really bad place to put a wire through.
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Correct. But why would it be bad? I saw the picture of glasses retainers and this were shown fastened to the Microphone. I thought they looked clunky. You could also fasten them to the wire.
Someone mentioned fishing line and fisherman’s knots. Where would that be secured?
Personally I have not tried anything yet.
There’s a difference between wrapping something around the aid (which I’m thinking may be the glasses retainer you’re describing?) and shoving something through the mic port. It’s not an open hole, although it looks like it.
This video shows what Signia aids are like inside - most are similar to this: The inner life of hearing aids - YouTube
Ah, thank you, obvious now I know what it is.
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As a quick & dirty Fix until you find your perfect Nicer Fix, just use nylon fishing leader & tie it around the tube between the RIC & the BTE parts. If you like a “Punk Look”, you can include some feathers or an actual Fly.