Can I use my UK hearing aids in Spain? Adjustments and repairs

It happens every winter. Someone arrives in Mazarrón wearing their hearing aids, the whistling starts in the second week or one of the two goes silent, and the centre that fitted them is two thousand kilometres away.

The first question is usually whether anyone here can look at them. The short answer is that almost always they can, but not everything can be done, and what can’t depends on details that are worth knowing before you need them.

First: are the hearing aids yours?

It sounds like an odd question, and it is the one that causes the most surprises.

If they came from the NHS, they are not yours. The NHS itself puts it this way: NHS hearing aids are given free on long-term loan, and batteries, repairs and follow-up appointments are free as well. That service is provided by the audiology department that issued them, in the UK. If you lose or break them, you may be charged for a replacement.

That has two practical consequences if you spend long stretches in Spain:

• The free parts and repairs are still over there, not here.
• Before anyone opens the device or changes its programming, it is worth asking your audiology department what they allow and what they don’t.

If you bought them privately, in the UK, in Germany or anywhere else, they are yours, and you can have them checked wherever you like. What changes is the warranty: many are only honoured in the country, or by the chain, where you bought them. It is worth checking your purchase paperwork.

What can be done without touching the programming

A good share of faults are not really faults. They are maintenance, and any hearing centre can sort them out with the right part.

• The wax filter. This is the most common reason a hearing aid “goes dead”. The ear canal produces wax, the wax blocks the filter and the sound can’t get out. It takes a minute to change.
• The dome or tip, the soft piece that sits in the ear. It hardens, cracks or gets left behind in the ear. There are different sizes and shapes, and each manufacturer has its own.
• The tube, on models worn behind the ear. Over time it yellows, stiffens and lets less sound through.
• Batteries. These are universal and come with a colour code on the packet: yellow (size 10), brown (312), orange (13) and blue (675). If you know your colour, you can find them in any country.
• Rechargeables. The charger works the same here; usually all you need is a plug adaptor.

The American national institute on deafness makes the same point: much of a hearing aid’s life depends on daily care, and wax and moisture are what damage them most. On the coast, with salt air and heat, even more so.

Adjusting the programming: it depends on the manufacturer

This is the part you don’t see. A modern hearing aid is a small computer, and to change what it does it has to be connected to its manufacturer’s fitting software. Each brand has its own.

A hearing centre with that software installed can read the hearing aid, see how it is set up and change it: turn the high frequencies up or down, fix the whistling, add a programme for restaurants or for the television.

There is one exception worth knowing about before you move: locked hearing aids. Some chains and some manufacturers sell devices whose programming can only be opened in their own centres, with a password or with software that isn’t available to anyone else. The professional journal The Hearing Review describes this as a real problem for patients who move or travel: they stay tied to the original centre even when they are in another country.

So the question to ask the centre that fitted them is a simple one: “Could another hearing care professional in Spain adjust these with the brand’s standard software?” If the answer is no, it is better to know before the journey than in the middle of winter.

What to bring to your first appointment

The more information you bring, the less has to be repeated. Ideally, come with:

• The hearing aids, the case and the charger, even if you think only one of them has a problem.
• The make and model, usually printed on the device itself or on the box.
• A copy of your latest audiogram. It is your health information, and you are entitled to ask the centre that tested you for it, both in the UK and in any EU country.
• The fitting report, if you were given one: which programmes it has and what they are for.
• The purchase date and warranty, if the aids are private.

With that, the first appointment can check the device, examine your ear and find out whether the problem is the hearing aid, the settings or your hearing, which also changes over the years.

Before you leave home: the short list

If you haven’t packed yet, five things will save you trouble:

1. Ask for a copy of your audiogram and fitting report.
2. Ask whether your hearing aids are locked or can be adjusted by another centre.
3. If they are NHS aids, ask what to do if they fail while you are abroad and take spares with you: filters, domes and tubes in your size.
4. If they are private, check whether the warranty covers repairs outside the country of purchase.
5. Bring batteries for a few weeks, or the charger and its cable.

When the problem isn’t the hearing aid

Sometimes the device is perfectly fine and what has changed is the ear.

• A build-up of wax can make a hearing aid that was working well seem useless. It shows up on otoscopy.
• A drop in hearing over the years means the old settings are no longer enough. It shows up when the new audiogram is compared with the one you brought.

And some situations are for a doctor rather than a hearing centre, and should not wait: sudden hearing loss, over hours or a day, ear pain or discharge, vertigo, or new ringing in one ear only. In those cases we will tell you to see a doctor, and where to go.

How we do it here

At MODALENT the audiology room is inside the same shop, in Puerto de Mazarrón. We can see you in Spanish, English or German, so you can explain what is happening in your own words and understand our answers.

If your hearing aid is not one we can adjust, we will tell you at the first appointment, along with what we can do: clean it, replace the parts that wear out, check your ear and give you an up-to-date audiogram for when you go home.

Nobody knows better than you when you are hearing well. This article is no substitute for an assessment in person; what it can do is help you arrive knowing what to ask.