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Airbrushing or wrapping hearing aids?

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I was thinking about airbrushing my new aids when they come in. Of course I would remove the shell and carefully tape what needs to be taped. I’m an experienced minature model hobbyist in my spare time. I also make my own decals so I would be putting those on there too. I also could “wrap” them similar to how you wrap a vehicle.

Any concerns on my painting or wrapping the shell? Would it affect the performance or whatsoever?

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I’m not experienced at painting but I managed to paint a spare set of covers a nice blaze orange. they came out nice if I do say so myself. I would think airbrushing would be just the ticket.

I had a colleague when I worked in Seattle that had a patient who was an artist/painter and purposefully got larger ’s so that she could paint small scenes and designs on them. She’d have these super-small brushes and paint all sorts of things on there. After a few weeks when the paint started to wear off she’d remove the design and do another one.

I don’t know if I’d use an airbrush…probably not unless you could protect the mics some way to make sure the paint didn’t clog up the screen over them.

Of course I would remove the shell and carefully tape what needs to be taped. I’m an experienced minature model hobbyist in my spare time.

sounds like he could manage the project.

I would also test a small portion of the shell to make sure it won’t craze with the paint you are using. If it crazes you can use a barrier and then paint them.

Edited

Absolutely an issue with acrylics which is easiest to work with. It is for this reason why I mentioned wrapping. My concern with wrapping would be adding that weight or insulation to it. I’m afraid that it would affect device performance or something. If all else fails, I think I can make it work with enamel. I would like to spray it with a two-tone, put decals on it, then spray it all over with a nice clear coat. It will be NFL themed. I also have lexan paint as an option which is ultra durable. I need to research the material used to choose the correct paint… mostly… just want to know if I would be altering sound performance with the added insulation of paints or wraps (however I decide to go about it).

Just a quick observation: the charged Mylar used in the microphones is stripped of it’s charge by certain solvents, the internal mic screens will also clog: make sure you adequately block all the mic holes with something removable.

Edited

Considering Um Bongo’s scientific response, I’d say it’d likely would void the warranty. I will have my audiologist call Widex and inquire about it. Either way, I think I am willing to take that gamble if painting won’t affect the performance of the device itself.

@NitroHonda said:

Considering Um Bongo’s scientific response, I’d say it’d likely would void the warranty. I will have my audiologist call Widex and inquire about it. Either way, I think I am willing to take that gamble if painting won’t affect the performance of the device itself.

Something like the Alera/Old Verite would be ok: the de-mountable side pods could be booth sprayed and sealed before re-attaching to the aid.

The Verite side panels come in a variety of colors including red, blue , orange and green, in addition to the usual black, brown, rust, etc.; more recently they’ve added panels that have elephant, eagle, fish and paisley prints on them. They’re very cool, especially if you like to change them out fairly frequently.

Sounds interesting! I am getting the Widex Super 440’s so my options are limited to their color palette. Don’t get me wrong… they have some really sleek options. I’m just big on personalizing. I am from Austin, TX where weird is a good thing.

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