HA's for Dummies?

@Nebraskan said:

You’re mentioning coming from cold to warm and humidity … my glasses fog up when I come in the house during some of our extreme cold (Nebraska). Are there any precautions I should take this winter?

Yes, get a Dry N Store and put your hearing aids in them when they aren’t in your ears.

@Nebraskan said:

You’re mentioning coming from cold to warm and humidity … my glasses fog up when I come in the house during some of our extreme cold (Nebraska). Are there any precautions I should take this winter?

The conditions I mentioned are different than yours – I’m going from 70 to 90 degree weather outside to 50 degrees and dry inside.

Most aids seem to rated “IP67” which means they’re protected down to at least 15 cm (call it six inches) under water. That doesn’t mean it’s good for them, just that they’re supposed to withstand that.

The consensus is keep them dry and putting them in a dryer made for hearing aids is a very good idea. It could make them last longer.

One thing my audiologist told me: don’t put the batteries in the dryer. They’ll fail.

The bigger threat is probably getting some fine dust carried into the microphone(s) by water.

I know very little about cold weather, but if you need something to keep your ears warm, your aids probably aren’t exposed like your glasses.

@lwt42 said:

The conditions I mentioned are different than yours – I’m going from 70 to 90 degree weather outside to 50 degrees and dry inside.

Most aids seem to rated “IP67” which means they’re protected down to at least 15 cm (call it six inches) under water. That doesn’t mean it’s good for them, just that they’re supposed to withstand that.

The consensus is keep them dry and putting them in a dryer made for hearing aids is a very good idea. It could make them last longer.

One thing my audiologist told me: don’t put the batteries in the dryer. They’ll fail.

The bigger threat is probably getting some fine dust carried into the microphone(s) by water.

I know very little about cold weather, but if you need something to keep your ears warm, your aids probably aren’t exposed like your glasses.

A rating of IP-67 means that the HA can withstand dust exposure in a dust chamber for 8 hours and be submerged in between 15 cm and one meter of water for 30 minutes, although most HA’s have a IP-57, not 67 rating I wouldn’t go out of my way to test my HA’s for water tightness. Also, I have kept my batteries in my HA’s while in the Dry N Store and they last 14 days, if I took them out of the D n S they also lasted 14 days and they are #13 batteries. However, if I take them out and tape over the air holes while they are out of the HA’s they last about 3-4 days longer. The best thing to do is keep your HA’s dry and the Dry N Store is a good way to do it.

@seb said:

I wouldn’t go out of my way to test my HA’s for water tightness.

Me neither. No need to tempt fate. I’m sure there will be accidents.

Sometimes I do put them on before my hair is completely dry, but I’m trying to plan better.

… and I’ll test the battery life in the dryer later.

I have a problem that some of you may appreciate: a very large cat. He thinks my glasses are fun to play with, and loves things like tie-wraps. If he got ahold of one of my aids, I’d likely never see it again.

Who knew I’d learn something about curling in a hearing aid forum?

It’s not just the dogs and cats that you have to watch out for. Going on 25 years ago when I was working a sales job, I was at a table in the break room with a fellow employee, a black gentleman, who had taken his hearing aids out and laid them on the table top. Another coworker came in, picked up one of the aids, and was about a second away from popping it in his mouth when he realized it wasn’t a Milk Dud!

Mini-RITEs don’t look like milk duds, but the wire and the receiver and the retainer-thingy are very attractive to a very large pest-kitty.

No telling what they might look like to someone/something else.