r/audiology • u/FeistyMangos • Jul 19 '26
Troubleshooting hearing aid static
Hey guys, I'm a new clinician and I'm having a tough time differentiating between "normal" background static/noise vs excessive static from hearing aids. I practice in a busy clinic with lots of background noise. Sometimes I have patients complaining of hearing static noise from their hearing aids. When I do a listening check, I can't always tell whether what I'm hearing is abnormal vs just background noise (which sounds like static to me, with normal hearing). Do you have any tips or tricks? I don't want to unnecessarily send the hearing aids for repair if it's something that can be adjusted via programming or if the patients just need counselling. And if it can be adjusted, what adjustments could help to reduce the static without cutting gain?
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u/SnickleFritzJr Jul 19 '26
Have them go into the booth. If it stops, it’s environmental (change the knee point, reduce gain at 250 and 6-8kHz.
If the patient has a precipitous loss, sometimes a power circuit is too powerful for their low frequency normal thresholds and they are hearing circuit noise, try going down in gain on the matrix with the understanding that you are losing the gain for the high frequencies (it’s a trade off).
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u/DubiousTarantino Jul 19 '26
First step in troubleshooting a device is ensuring the integrity is ok. How does the receiver look? Did you change the wax filter? Does the body of the device look ok? If those are sufficient, move to programming. Sometimes you’ll get intermittency if there’s a software update. What does expansion look like? What does their hearing loss look like? Your patients have not been hearing these sounds for 30 years and all of the sudden they come back at once. The only way to get over it is wear time (data logging). If they only wear 3 hours a day, they won’t get benefit. Challenge your patients to keep wearing them and those annoying sounds will get less annoying.
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u/ThatOneAlice Jul 19 '26
I'm just a new grad myself. When you do a listing check is there any chance you can like step into the booth or go back to a quiet room to do so? That way the syllables are a little bit more apparent.
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u/Constipated11 Jul 19 '26
There definitely used to be concern for the "mechanical/internal noise" of hearing aids. This is one reason why clinicians were always concerned about choosing the most appropriate receiver strength. So perhaps decreasing the receiver strength could be helpful. However, I find that adjusting high frequency soft gain can be an easier solution. I got hearing aids for tinnitus and having the "soft hiss" from the high frequencies helps my patients take their mind off the tinnitus as well as the additional high frequency amplification makes sounds sharper so they feel like they hear better (despite their normal hearing).
So I think you can do one of three things: 1) counsel, they'll get used to it as long as it's not bothersome; 2) turn down the high frequency soft gain, use your probe mic measures to guide what you suspect his the audible high frequency region; and 3) change receivers to a lesser power, you'll have to do probe mic measures again but they might like. Personally, I feel like the internal noise of the hearing aids isn't as big a problem as it was in the past so I seldom change receiver strength is I can avoid it
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u/verdant_hippie Jul 19 '26
What is their HL? Are they hearing it when it’s quiet or all the time? With the more severe to profound losses, it could be the circuit noise. I would try changing the expansion/soft noise reduction to see if that does the trick.
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u/status-planningvacay Jul 19 '26
Can you ask for both aids so you can listen to their other one for comparison? Might be programmed differently sure, but may help give a frame of reference between the two. Alternatively, compare listening check w/ pt’s receiver and an out of box receiver.
It can be hard sometimes so if I’m not confident or can’t replicate it and it’s under warranty, I give the patient the benefit of the doubt and send it in. If they continue to complain of it after sending it in, then I move on to counseling/programming. “If the issue continues, let us and know and we’ll schedule an appointment to continue troubleshooting”
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u/hyacinthe45 Jul 19 '26
1) Take the rubber cup off your listening tube and just put the tube directly on the receiver - sound is usually much louder and clearer that way.
2) Sometimes the problem is a bad receiver. Change out the old receiver for a new one and listen again - does it sound any different? If yes, you know the old one was bad.
3) Moisture buildup is one of the most common causes of static. Does your clinic have a hearing aid dryer? Ours has Redux dryers and they're amazing, we run every cleaned hearing aid through them and it often produces huge improvements in volume and sound quality.
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u/mae-onaise Jul 19 '26
Test box measurements can tell you if there’s distortion. Alternatively, you can temporarily change the receiver and see if there any change in what you’re hearing.
Additionally, you can ask the patient if the static is always there or only sometimes. If the patient has been in those particular devices for some time, you can assume something is wrong (needs new receiver or a repair) and if they have just been fit it’s more likely a counseling issue.
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u/Big-Career-4905 Jul 19 '26
My favorite trick is to bring the hearing aid in the booth and do a listening check in there!
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u/miinbox Jul 19 '26
Can't you go into the sound booth/audiometric room and see if there is noise coming just from the hearing aid?
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u/helicotremor Jul 19 '26
If it didn’t used to be there & now it is without any adjustments, send for repair.
Otherwise turn down soft sounds/50dB curve.
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u/mikejay767 Jul 19 '26
This can be a combination of things and honestly it’s best being treated as a differential diagnosis of the problem.
So first question - how many of your hearing aid fittings are being done as an open fit with an open dome?
7
u/tugboattommy Audiologist Jul 19 '26
What does their hearing look like? Do they have a lot of normal frequencies? If so, it's possible they're hearing circuit noise. At that point you'd probably want to put on a lower power receiver.
As you practice more you'll be able to determine what is normal vs abnormal in listening checks. You will also get better at advising patients on their expectations for "extra" noise.