Eargo hearing aid with cleaning brush
HEARING AIDS

CLEAN HEARING AIDS ARE HAPPY HEARING AIDS

BY ALLISON O. - AUGUST 10, 2022

 

 

If you’ve worn hearing aids before, you likely already know the importance of keeping them clean. If you’re new to wearing hearing aids, you need to know that this is an essential part of owning and wearing hearing aids. Either way, you should be aware of some nuances to cleaning Eargos (versus other hearing aids) to ensure the best performance and prolong their life. 

 

To learn more about the recommended way to deep clean your devices, scroll to the appropriate section for your specific model. Then, check out the end of the article for some helpful tips on how to remember to perform the cleaning.

 

Eargo Max

Daily Cleaning:

  • Remove the hearing aids from your ears and brush them off using the brush included with your system, or wipe them down with a microfiber cloth–focusing on the charger contact points

  • Charge hearing aids overnight

  • After charging them overnight, brush the hearing aids every morning

    • Brush the Flexis (tips) with the little black brush you received with your devices (or you can use a clean, soft-bristled toothbrush).

    • Brush the microphone cap with the little black brush you received with your devices (or you can use a clean, soft-bristled toothbrush). While brushing the mic cap, hold the hearing aid so the mic cap is pointing down (to allow the debris to fall downward) and brush them with the same vigor you would brushing your teeth

Why brush them again in the morning? By doing so, you allow any leftover oil to cool and dry, making it easier to remove!

Monthly Deep Cleaning: 

  • Remove the Flexis from the hearing aids and wash them with warm water and hand soap if you’ll be reusing them, or replace them with fresh Flexis if they seem particularly dirty or are becoming stiff or brittle. Make sure to wait for them to dry completely before reinserting them into your ear.

Eargo Flexi Fibers
  • Change the wax guard (see Eargo Care videos on our support page, or within the Eargo Help section of the mobile app - for Eargo Neo HiFi users)

Eargo wax guard tool
  • Swipe the charging contacts on both the hearing aid and the charger with 70% Isopropyl Alcohol a soft cloth to remove any stubborn oils.

 

Eargo Neo and Eargo Neo HiFi

Daily Cleaning:

  • Remove the hearing aids from your ears and wipe them down with a microfiber cloth (like the one included with your Eargos), focusing on the charger contact points

  • Charge hearing aids overnight

  • After charging them overnight, brush the hearing aids every morning

    • Brush the Flexis (tips) with the little black brush you received with your devices (or you can use a clean, soft-bristled toothbrush).

    • Brush the microphone cap with the little black brush you received with your devices (or you can use a clean, soft-bristled toothbrush). While brushing the mic cap, hold the hearing aid so the mic cap is pointing down (to allow the debris to fall downward) and brush them with the same vigor you would brushing your teeth

 

Why not do the brushing at night after you’ve wiped them down? By doing it in the morning, you allow any leftover oil to cool and dry, making it easier to remove in the morning!

Monthly Deep Cleaning: 

  • Remove the Flexis from the hearing aids and wash them with warm water and hand soap if you’ll be reusing them, or replace them with fresh Flexis if they seem particularly dirty or are becoming stiff or brittle. Make sure to wait for them to dry completely before reinserting them into your ear.

Eargo Flexi Palms
  • Change the wax guard (see Eargo Care videos on our support page, or within the Eargo Help section of the mobile app - for Eargo Neo HiFi users

  • Swipe the charging contacts on both the hearing aid and the charger with 70% isopropyl alcohol on a soft cloth to remove any stubborn oils

Hifi mic clean

Clean Eargo Neo HiFi mic

Note: photo above is with microphone cap removed - please do not remove from your Eargo Neo or Eargo Neo HiFi devices at home

HiFi mic dirty

Dirty Eargo Neo HiFi mic

Note: photo above is with microphone cap removed - please do not remove from your Eargo Neo or Eargo Neo HiFi devices at home

 

Eargo 5 & Eargo 6

Daily Cleaning:

  • Remove the hearing aids from your ears and wipe them down with a microfiber cloth (like the one included with your Eargos)

  • Clean the charger sensor with the wiper blade end of the cleaning tool

    • This wiper blade is not intended to be used as a wax pick to pick wax out of any of the sound ports 

  • After charging your hearing aids overnight, brush the Petal (tips) with the included brush.

    • Pro Tip: Leave the cap off the charger to allow the hearing aids to further air out and aid in drying them overnight. Just be sure to leave the charging disk plugged in!

  • Then wipe the brush off so you don’t transfer the wax to the microphone area

  • Now brush the mic cap area, focusing around the circumference of the hearing aid where the mic cap attaches

  • Gently rotate the mic cap back and forth 180 degrees a few times to clear the microphone area

Eargo cleaning tool

Biweekly Deep Cleaning (every 10 days - 2 weeks):

  • Remove the Petal (tip) and microphone cap from the hearing aid and wash them out with warm water and liquid hand soap. They can be reused as long as they connect well to the hearing aid, show no signs of tears or damage, and are not blocked with debris.

  • Allow the hearing aid to dry outside of the charger and outside of the ear for around 4 hours

    • The charger uses inductive charging and typically produces warmth during the charging cycle which can lead to wax or oil on the hearing aid not having a chance to dry out—making it difficult to brush off

  • Brush each sound port vigorously with the included brush (or you can use a clean, soft-bristled toothbrush).

  • Give the charging sensor an extra clean with the wiper blade end of the brush, and wipe away any debris or flakes you may see inside the charger

Reattach all of the pieces when they are completely dry and enjoy hearing life to the fullest again!

Clean E5/E6 Mic Screen
Dirty E5/E6 Mic Screen
Clean E5/E6 Speaker
Dirty E6/E6 Speaker
Dirty E5/E6 Hearing Aid body

This may seem like a lot of work, but in reality, these cleaning steps take just a few minutes and are essential to keeping your Eargos in top working order. You wouldn’t believe how many issues are due to improper, or lack of, cleaning. You’ve made an investment in your hearing, so make sure to do everything that you can to protect that investment and hear life to the fullest!

To make remembering to clean your devices easy, here are a few tips:

  • Set reminders in your phone’s calendar

  • Write reminders on your physical calendar

  • Leave sticky notes near your Eargo charger 

  • Eargo 5/Eargo 6 owners can set reminders in the Eargo app (in the Settings section of the menu in the top-left corner)

E5/E6 App Cleaning Reminders

You can also find videos that show you these cleaning steps on our Support page here.

 

While we’re talking about cleaning, don’t forget to clean your ears, too! Between the temperature, moisture, and oils inside your ears, it’s a pretty inhospitable environment! You can learn about properly cleaning your ears here

Finally, if you’re having issues with your Eargos please make sure that you’ve properly cleaned them as a first step. If that doesn’t help, you can resolve a lot of issues without having to contact our Support Team with our interactive Troubleshooting tool.

And if that doesn’t work, we’re happy to help you. Just reach out via phone, email, chat, or through the app to reach our team during business hours.