When your hearing aids are properly fitted and programmed, you should not have problems with feedback, whistling, or other strange noises.  However, we don’t live in a perfect world.  If you ever have problems with whistling noises or feedback, its time to get in to your audiologist’s office right away. 

Causes of Hearing Aid Feedback Sounds

Remember that your hearing aid is a miniature sound system.  Just like with any other sound system, if the microphone and the speaker get too close together, it produces that terrible screeching sound.  The microphone picks up the sound, it gets amplified and sent to the speaker which just sends it over to the microphone and the process is repeated. 

If the parts of your hearing aid are too close together, the same thing happens. 

Believe it or not, your ears continue to grow your entire life.  So over the years, your ears change.  This means that the fit of your hearing aids change.  It’s important to get regular evaluations of your hearing aids.  Regular evaluation will allow the audiologist to make adjustments to stop feedback before it can get started.

Stopping Hearing Aid Feedback 

Your audiologist can stop whistling, feedback or any other strange noise coming out of your hearing aids.  They will check your ears for a build-up of ear wax, and they will check the fit of your hearing aid.  They will also want to make sure that you have inserted your hearing aids properly.  Sometimes the problem is nothing more than the aid improperly inserted in your ear.

In addition, your aids will be inspected for broken tubing, blocked vents, or any other physical defects The programming can also be checked to make sure that the volume is correct at all frequencies.

Beeping Hearing Aids

Sometimes you might hear a beeping noise from your hearing aid.  Just like your cell phone or tablet, this is how your hearing aid tells you the battery is dying.  It’s a good idea to keep a spare set of batteries on hand for your hearing aids.  That beeping noise will inevitably happen at the worst time, so it’s best to be prepared.

Feedback Cancellation Systems

One of the greatest advances in digital hearing aid technology was the invention of the feedback cancellation circuit.  Feedback cancellation circuits continually monitor the output of the hearing aid to determine if the amplified signal contains the acoustic characteristics of acoustic feedback. If it does, the feedback circuit determines the frequency and amplitude of the feedback, and then generates signals that will cancel (or markedly reduce) the feedback component.  This feature is commonly included in many modern hearing aids.