Retubing your Behind the Ear (BTE) Hearing Aid
My name is Ashley Halbach and I’m an audiologist at Boys Town National Research Hospital. Today, we’re going to talk about how to change the tubing on your ear mold for a behind the ear hearing aid.
Over time, the tubing of an ear mold can become hard or brittle and can crack. This can cause pain or discomfort or change the sound quality of the hearing aid.
The supplies that you’ll need to change the ear mold tubing is extra tubing your audiologist should have provided, a pair of scissors, and you may find that you need something to open the tubing of the ear mold.
First, you want to make sure that you wash your hands and then remove the ear mold from the hearing aid.
Take note of the angle that the tubing is at. You want it to be nice and flush with your ear mold.
Remove the tubing from the ear mold.
Keep the old tubing as you’ll need it later.
Grab your new tube, take the tapered end and feed it through the back of the ear mold until it comes out the canal portion on the back side.
Pull the tubing through until it makes a nice 90 degree angle and again, is flush with your ear mold.
Now grab your pair of scissors and trim the tubing off the back.
Grab your old tubing and line it up so you can measure the length and cut that off.
If you have concerns about cutting the proper length, always cut a little longer. You can come back and adjust as needed.
Then take the new ear mold tubing and attach it to the hearing aid.
If you have difficulty getting it on, you can grab your pliers and widen the tubing.
Then reattach it to your hearing aid and you should be set and ready to go.
If you have any concerns on how to change the tubing on your ear mold or concerns on how your ear mold fits or how your hearing aids are functioning, please contact your audiologist.
For more information on our hearing services, please visit boystownhospital.org
