Can You Wear Hearing Aids With Glasses? Comfort and Fit Tips

Yes. Most people wear hearing aids and glasses together comfortably. Slim receiver-in-canal and custom in-ear styles leave the most room behind the ear, and putting your glasses on first, then the hearing aid, prevents most slipping. At American Family Hearing Aid Center in Marietta, GA, Mark Stevenson factors your frames into every hearing aid fitting. Compare hearing aid styles before you choose.

Can You Wear Glasses and Hearing Aids at the Same Time?

Yes, and most people who need one eventually need both. Glasses rest on the top of the ear, and most hearing aids either sit behind the ear or inside the ear canal, so the two share space rather than compete for it. With the right style and a few minutes of practice, wearing both becomes as automatic as putting on a watch.

Problems usually come from three things: a bulky frame arm, a hearing aid that sits too far back, or putting the two on in an order that pushes one out of place. Each is easy to fix once you know what is causing it.

Which Hearing Aid Styles Work Best With Glasses?

• Receiver-in-canal (RIC): the small body behind the ear connects to the speaker with a thin wire, leaving plenty of room for a frame arm. This is the most common choice for glasses wearers.
• Custom in-the-ear styles: devices that sit entirely in the ear, including in-the-canal and completely-in-canal models, leave the space behind the ear open for glasses.
• Behind-the-ear (BTE): slightly larger, but still comfortable with thinner frames. Often the right choice for more severe hearing loss.

Rechargeable options now include custom in-ear models, which matters if you wear glasses all day. Our rechargeable hearing aids page explains which styles charge in a case overnight.

What Is the Right Order to Put On Glasses and Hearing Aids?

For behind-the-ear and receiver-in-canal styles, this order keeps both secure:

• Put your glasses on first and settle the arms where they normally rest.
• Lift the arm of the glasses slightly, then slip the hearing aid behind the ear, between the frame arm and your head.
• Place the dome or mold into the ear canal and press gently until it feels seated.
• Lower the glasses back into position and check that the hearing aid sits snugly, not perched on top of the frame.

To take them off, remove the glasses slowly with both hands, holding the frame at the hinges. Pulling them off with one hand is the most common way a hearing aid flips out of the ear.

Why Do Hearing Aids Whistle or Slip When You Wear Glasses?

Whistling, also called feedback, happens when amplified sound escapes the ear canal and reaches the microphone again. A thick frame arm can push the hearing aid forward, lifting the dome slightly out of the canal and opening a gap for sound to leak. Slipping has the same root cause: the device is sitting on the frame instead of against your head.

Fixes are usually simple. Repositioning the device under the frame arm, adding a small retention lock or adjusting the dome size often solves it. Our guide to hearing aid domes explains how dome size affects fit. If whistling continues, a clean and check rules out wax or a worn dome.

Which Glasses Frames Are Easiest With Hearing Aids?

Thin, flat frame arms are the most comfortable. Wide plastic arms take up the space a behind-the-ear device needs and are more likely to push it out of position. If you are shopping for new frames, take your hearing aids with you and try them on together.

Bring your glasses to your hearing aid fitting as well. Mark checks how the devices sit with your actual frames, and an optician can often adjust the bend of the frame arms by a few millimeters to make room.

How Do You Avoid Losing Hearing Aids With Glasses or Masks?

The moment you take off glasses or a face mask is when hearing aids go missing. Ear-loop masks are the biggest risk, because the elastic catches the device on the way off. A mask extender or tie-back mask keeps the loops away from your ears.

Make a habit of touching each ear after removing glasses or a mask. Many current hearing aid apps also include a feature that shows where a device was last connected, which is worth setting up the day you get your hearing aids.

What About Sunglasses, Readers and Safety Glasses?

If you switch between readers, sunglasses and everyday glasses, every swap is a chance to knock a hearing aid loose, so a custom in-ear style can make life easier. Safety glasses at work are often bulky; flat-arm models fit better with hearing aids. If your job is also noisy, custom hearing protection can be made to work alongside your glasses.

Can Glasses and Hearing Aids Cause Ear Soreness?

Two things resting on the top of the ear can create a pressure point, especially in the first weeks. Soreness usually comes from a frame arm sitting directly on top of the hearing aid, or from a device that is slightly too large or positioned too far back. Neither is something you should simply put up with.

Try moving the hearing aid a few millimeters forward or back under the frame arm, and check that your glasses are not pressing down harder than they used to. If a sore spot lasts more than a few days, come in. A different wire length, dome size or frame adjustment usually removes the pressure completely.

How Long Does It Take to Get Used to Wearing Both?

Most people stop noticing the combination within one to two weeks. The first days feel unfamiliar mainly because you are aware of every small movement behind the ear. That awareness fades quickly once the order of putting them on becomes habit. Our article on your first two weeks with hearing aids describes what the adjustment period feels like and what is worth a call.

Practice helps more than anything. Put both on and take both off a few times a day for the first week, in front of a mirror if you can, until the movement feels natural.

Get a Fitting That Accounts for Your Glasses

The best way to know which style works with your frames is to try them together. Call 770-590-8662 or schedule a consultation at our Marietta office, 145 N Marietta Pkwy NE, Suite E. Directions and parking are on our Marietta location page.