Tips To Make Your Hearing Aids Safer For Pets And Children

Hearing aids are powerful pieces of technology, but they’re also pretty small, and their batteries are even smaller. This can make them easy to lose or misplace. A store specializing in hearing aids in Springfield, MO, like Half Price Hearing Aids, can help easily replace them.

Losing the earpiece or batteries can be a major problem with pets or children around. Their size means pets and kids can easily swallow them, and the consequences can be severe.

Dangers of swallowing hearing aids

Due to their size, the hearing aid and batteries have a chance to safely pass through the digestive system. In rare instances, they can pose serious health risks. If they become lodged in the throat or esophagus, they can cause choking. The more significant health risk is if the battery is swallowed. The batteries can contain lithium, and if swallowed, lithium has toxic properties. Other types of batteries can cause problems as well. Zinc-air batteries contain trace amounts of mercury and can dissolve during digestion, leading to mercury poisoning.

Prevention is the best medicine

One of the best ways to protect your pets and children is to prevent accidents from happening. One way is to make sure your hearing aids and batteries are placed somewhere safe, usually behind a closed door or in a cabinet out of the reach of pets and children. Leaving them out in the open makes them more accessible to kids and pets, and also increases the chances they could be accidentally knocked onto the floor and lost.

Properly disposing of your used batteries is another important preventative step to take. Instead of putting old batteries in the garbage, you can recycle the batteries. Many municipalities have locations that collect batteries for recycling. This keeps a pet or even a young child from getting into the garbage and swallowing the battery. Being proactive with your hearing aids in Springfield, MO is the best way to keep pets and children safe.

Accidents happen

Even if you take all the proper precautions, accidents do happen. In these cases, you’ll want to act immediately. If a child or pet swallows a battery, you should bring them to the emergency room or veterinarian right away. Have the battery packaging readily available, because a doctor can look and evaluate the medical risks based on what type of battery it is. Don’t induce vomiting, and keep the child or pet from eating or drinking unless a doctor says it’s okay. Keeping track of your hearing aid and battery can help you figure out if one is missing and if there’s a chance it may have been swallowed.

Keeping your hearing aids in Springfield, MO safely away from your kids and pets is simple if you take preventative steps. Being prepared in case of an emergency can also turn a potentially dangerous issue into a simple trip to the doctor’s office. Half Price Hearing Aids is ready to help. We can answer any questions you may have about how to keep better track of your hearing aid and batteries. We’ll also be able to help with disposing of old equipment. Give us a call to set up an appointment!