Keeping hearing aids working through a Georgia summer

Hearing aids sit in a warm enclosed space on a body that sweats, and in July here they do it in ninety percent humidity. Moisture gets into the microphone ports and the receiver, corrodes contacts, and produces exactly the symptoms people assume mean a dead device: intermittent sound, crackling, weak output, or nothing at all.

Most of it is preventable in about five minutes a day.

The nightly routine

1. Take them out and wipe them down. A dry cloth or the brush that came with them. Not a wet wipe, not alcohol, not a cleaning spray.
2. Check the wax guard and the dome. Wax is the other half of this problem, and warm weather makes it softer and more mobile.
3. Open the battery door, or if they are rechargeable, follow the manufacturer’s guidance on the charger. An open door lets the inside dry out.
4. Put them somewhere dry overnight. A dehumidifier jar with a desiccant puck costs very little. An electric drying box costs more and works better, especially if you sweat heavily or exercise outdoors.

That is it. Done consistently, it prevents the majority of the failures we see.

What not to do

• Do not use heat. No hair dryer, no oven, no leaving them on a sunny windowsill or in the car. Heat destroys the electronics and warps the plastics faster than moisture does. Cars in a Georgia summer are the worst offender by a distance.
• Do not use the microwave. People do. It is not a joke.
• Do not store them in the bathroom. The most humid room in the house, and where most people keep the medicine cabinet.
• Do not use liquids. No water, no alcohol, no cleaning products in or on them.

Situations that need extra care

• Yard work and exercise. If you sweat heavily, sweatbands or hearing aid sleeves genuinely help. Dry them properly afterwards rather than just putting them back in the case.
• Golf, fishing, sitting out in the afternoon. Hours of heat and sun. Even water resistant devices are not designed for that continuously.
• Swimming. Take them out. Water resistant is not waterproof, and no hearing aid is designed to be submerged. If you swim regularly, ask us about custom swim molds.
• Afternoon storms. Getting caught in one is not a catastrophe, but dry them properly that evening rather than assuming they shrugged it off.

Symptoms that usually mean moisture

If your hearing aids are doing any of the following, try a night in a drying jar before assuming they are broken:

• Cutting in and out intermittently.
• Crackling or static.
• Sounding weak or muffled when the battery is fine.
• Working in the morning and failing by late afternoon.
• Draining batteries noticeably faster than usual.

A surprising number of hearing aids brought in as dead are simply wet. If a night of drying fixes it, that is your answer, and it will happen again unless the routine changes.

Bring them in

A clean and check every few months does the things you cannot do at home: proper wax guard replacement, tubing, and a look at the receiver under magnification. It is booked as a short appointment, and it is the cheapest way to add years to a device. Details on the clean and check page.

If something has already stopped working, we repair all brands, not only the ones we fit. See hearing aid repairs or call 770-590-8662.