Sleeping with my hearing aids

Hearing Aids
#1

A few weeks ago, I forgot to remove my hearing aids when I went to bed. It was actually a great experience. I was aware of little nighttime sounds that actually helped me to sleep. As a side benefit, I could stream on my phone without disturbing my wife.

So I’ve now been wearing my hearing aids all night, and I’m very comfortable with it. Fortunately, they’re not rechargeable (Widex Moment BTE 13D). So, except for showering I’m wearing them 24/7 and changing the batteries every few days.

Does anyone else have experience with this? Is there any reason I shouldn’t wear my aids full time? Thanks.

–Steve

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#2

I do it all the time when i am lazy. I have slept with my CI and/or hearing aid sometimes… Only problem, i got when sleeping them is the fact you may get swimmer ears

#3

For at least two years I have worn an older pair of HAs to bed while the newer pair is charging over night. I use them to stream BBC from my Alexa device, and that puts me to sleep and keeps me asleep.

#4

Yes, that has to be a big concern. I wouldn’t recommend doing it every night.

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#5

The only thing wrong with this is you don’t let your ear canal dry out. By keeping it moist 24/7 you leave yourself open to all sorts of infections from bacterial through to fungal infections. Both of these infections love a warm moist condition to multiply and thrive in.

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#6

Thank all of you for your caring and helpful comments. I’m wondering if there is a way to keep my ear canals moist even wearing my hearing aids most of the time? I wonder what is the minimum time necessary to “air out” my ears. Are there moistening drops that help? I really don’t like taking out my aids for any longer than necessary. --Steve

#7

In a more quiet setting, could you use a larger vent for greater air circulation? I’ve done that from time to time when I don’t need the small vent to help me hear better in environments with background noise. Note that if you do try this, the setting on the hearing aid will need to be changed to accommodate the adjustment of the vent. That would be another program or a backup pair of hearing aids with the right prescription for the vent.

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#8

yes sometimes I also do this, because I have a little baby who wakes up at night

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#9

To the OP: any reason why you couldn’t wear one aid on alternating nights?

As referenced above, letting the canal dry to a normal state is pretty beneficial in the long run. I’d also consider alcohol swabbing a mould if you have one to keep the bacteria count down.

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#10

I wish this was the case for me because the CI magnet flies off in bed, I want a CI Coil that the size of my bed :joy: no more flying off when doing things in bed!

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#11

Thanks, all. These are more great suggestions. I’ll try alternating my hearing aids and use alcohol swabs on my molds. I don’t want to give up wearing my aids at night. My wife was amazed (and pleased) that I was actually able to hear her in bed. I usually cannot hear her very clearly in bed although she’s right next to me.

Also reassuring is hearing all the small sounds at night, which I cannot hear without my aids. I can also stream audiobooks without disturbing her.

Oddly enough, my wife (who has normal hearing) cannot sleep with any noise so she wears ear plugs! I don’t need ear plugs to be deaf =).

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#12

Postscript: I use regular 13 batteries. If I ever went to rechargeables, I have several older but still functioning pairs of hearing aids that I could use at night.

#13

I’ve done it several times, it’s a nice experience when you hear someone walking down the hall and then it’s easier to wake up. Otherwise, I’m more sleepy and I need someone to wake me up.

Someone mentioned that the ear does not have time to dry, this can be solved with frequent cleaning of the ear, I do this several times 2-3 times with a cotton swab to dry the ears because it itches less and there are fewer problems with the blocked wax filter.

I would like to point out something else that could be bad. I’m not sure if it’s healthy to have hearing aids all the time because the ear needs to rest, I mean the cochlea.
We don’t have healthy hearing, we use hearing aids that amplify the sound so that our cochlea can hear it, but I’m not sure if it’s healthy to use hearing aids 24 hours a day at that sound amplification. As for my hearing, I know that the audiogram has worsened since 2016, that it can be seen on the audiogram that the hearing has worsened in the middle frequencies. What if I will make my hearing even worse if I wear it at night?

#14

Markoo, You bring up an old issue: does hearing aid use worsen hearing, especially if you wear them all the time?

Most people think it does not, but I am not sure we really know. My hearing has certianly gotten worse with time, and I lose more hearing every year. But I’m not sure I can attribute that to wearing hearing aids. I guess there is no way to know without a controlled experiment. But no one is going to do that.

For the moment, I am very uncomfortable whenever I am without my aids. But of course, I don’t hear very well without them.

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#15

Thanks for your post. I posted an answer in the forum. Question for you? How much has your hearing deteriorated since 2016? How well do you hear with your HAs?

#16

But i thought sleeping with a hearing aid would damage the device (just lying down is different).:thinking: I mean we will be tossing and turning around several times throughout the night, and in doing so, one could exert too much pressure on it involuntarily which could break the delicate internal parts.

Anyway, I might give this a try! (sleeping with h/a)

Once I take my H/A off , it’s like the entire world has fallen into deep slumber which is boring to say the least. So, I’m glad I found this post.:slightly_smiling_face:

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#17

I feel as you do. Some people (like my normal hearing wife) wear earplugs and want all sounds blotted out at night. She doesn’t mind being temporarily deaf, but I like to hear sounds.

I doubt that your hearing aids will be damaged by moving around in sleep. I wear BTEs with standard tubes, which are pretty sturdy. RIC wires may be more fragile, but it’s worth trying – receivers can easily be replaced.

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#18

I would prefer to sleep in my BTE-RIC HAs as I have high pitch loss and loud tinnitus at 8 kHz. It helps me to draw my hearing attention from that nasty sound and enjoy a natural background (if not count the cars and aviation that pop up in my place).
I am doing that only during my naps, though.

The Oticon wires are pretty rigid, sturdy, and sleek and cause no issues. That sagged ones, I see people wearing with the other models, may catch on the pillow fabric and pull the receiver out.
I would not wear HAs all the time as there is a risk of getting a pressure wound (among others aforementioned).

Also, one of my deaf fellas got an eardrum puncture when occasionally fell asleep with an IIC HAs in the ears. I guess that some molds that sit deep in the wearer canal may cause similar issue.

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#19

So far, so good. I wear my hearing aids every night to bed and I’m barely aware they are there.