Spare Hearing Aids

Hi Zeeza, Unfortunately I don’t live such an exotic place as Luxor, but where i do live, I was lucky enough to receive hearing aids from my local hospital, they come with free maintenance and batteries. I could not manage without a spare set of aids whilst travelling, so I purchased a pair. Do you need to travel to Cairo for repairs? Maybe a cheaper aid will suffice as spares.

Yeah @Zeeza, it is a good idea to have backups… I don’t go anywhere overnight, away from home, without a set of backups with me…Although, over the years, I have only needed these backup’s, on a rare occasion, maybe twice this has happened, but still, it is very reassuring to know you have them with you, it saves on anxiety levels… I love your country, I am very interested in antiquities, especially Egyptian history, I have never actually been, and never likely to visit Luxor, and The Valley of the Kings, but I can dream… Good Luck in acquiring a suitable set of backup aids… Cheers Kev

@cvkemp said:

Now understand there isn’t anyway i could do that if I had to pay for the aids, the services, and extra devices that i get.

I totally understand. Unfortunately, I paid for the hearing aids and I will pay again in case of having another pair as a spare! Thanks for sharing your example! :)))

@BarryH said:

I could not manage without a spare set of aids whilst travelling, so I purchased a pair.

Yes, I faced that situation before while on the go. When I was in Nepal, my hearing aid was broken down and I had to go to an unknown place and pay a lot to have it fixed. It’s why I’m considering having a backup.

@BarryH said:

Do you need to travel to Cairo for repairs?

Yes, this is one more reason. If they need to be fixed when I’m home in Luxor, I will have to travel to Cairo and I can’t go anywhere without wearing my aids.

@kevels55 said:

but still, it is very reassuring to know you have them with you, it saves on anxiety levels

Yes, exactly!

@kevels55 said:

I have never actually been, and never likely to visit Luxor, and The Valley of the Kings, but I can dream

I hope your dream will become a reality one day! :)))

@Zebras said:

I would look for eBay for spare hearing aids.

Thanks for sharing the link!

@PeterH said:

I find it comforting to have spares.

Indeed, it’s comforting. Thank you!

@Zeeza said:

Yes, this is one more reason. If they need to be fixed when I’m home in Luxor, I will have to travel to Cairo and I can’t go anywhere without wearing my aids.

My 2-cents’ worth is to not only have a “backup” pair of aids, but if you can afford it, get the IDENTICAL pair as your main aids! Folks think hearing is some kind of “luxury” that we can just plain do without if our aids fail. Um. No! I’d be utterly unable to communicate unless a person put it in writing for me.

Until 2 yrs ago, my “backups” were the older pair of aids … like going down the food-chain. But the problem with that is that the older pair had less functionality, less power, and not as many program options. So I’d have to re-learn how to HEAR as well as how to USE the aids every time I needed backups.

One - or both - of my aids will typically fail to the point where they need to be sent in to Phonak for replacement or repair about 1-2 times a year. So I know I’ll be needing backups sooner rather than later. Also, I’d never travel - even for an overnighter - without aids + backups.

Identical backups will be super easy to just pop in and pick right up where you left off if your main pair needs to be fixed (anywhere in the world). You won’t be left with a pair of cinderblock ears when you fly home and have to get through Customs UNABLE to hear. Get the backups, and live in peace and contentment.

@1Bluejay said:

One - or both - of my aids will typically fail to the point where they need to be sent in to Phonak for replacement or repair about 1-2 times a year. So I know I’ll be needing backups sooner rather than later. Also, I’d never travel - even for an overnighter - without aids + backups.

This is completely fascinating to me.

I’ve been wearing aids for almost 30 years. I started out with Siemens BTEs - I had to send one in for “repair” (replacement) when my wife’s dog chewed it up about 6 months in. About 5 years later I switched to Oticon ITEs. Never had those serviced. Wore them for 8 years, until I got a pair of Oticon RICs. Those also never went in for service, but I did self-replace the receivers when they were 10 years old. I have had Phonak RICs since January of this year and have not been back to my audiologist since the first follow-up visit in Feb.

I still have all of the old ones (just in case) but I have never had a need to put one back on.

All of that said, my job involves nearly 80% travel. I get up every Monday morning, drive to the airport, fly somewhere in the USA, and fly back home on Friday. At least 40 weeks per year. I am a trainer, so if my hearing aids failed I would be unable to perform my job. But I have never taken a spare pair of hearing aids or a spare charger, and the only problems I have ever had were 1) running out of batteries once and having the ones I was wearing go completely dead before I found a place to buy some, and 2) one time I got up on Monday, replaced my domes because it was the first of the month, and was at the airport before I realized that the audiologist’s office had accidentally given me open domes instead of power domes - so I had no bass and massive feedback. I thought I could “power through it” and just deal with it for a couple of days, but by the end of the first day I had to find an audiologist in the city I was visiting that was open after 5pm and would sell me some domes over the counter (they ended up giving me a set for free).

Two incidents in more than 20 years of full-time travel, including some vacations to Europe, Hawaii, Alaska, and the Caribbean feels like good enough odds for me.

I have been wearing aids for 19 years. I have had 3 sets to need repairs. One set was battery replacement as a maintenence other two were to get higher power receivers. What you have to understand is that my aids are from the VA and i always have a backup set of aids to use. I am never totally out of having a set of aids to wear, now the aids may not be as good as my primary aids but definitely usable.

@Zeeza said:

One of my hearing aids already went out of service while on the go before so I’m always thinking of the worst scenario. :DDD

I TOTALLY get this! I don’t know why but it seems like some kind of karmic curse always dragging me back to deal with awkward and stressful events like NOT having a working pair of aids and then being in a situation (overseas, on the road, in a meeting, etc,) where I really need to hear.

I think the beginning of my acknowledging that I need backups with me whenever away from home was more than 20 yrs ago. I was at my in-laws and their DOG ate one of my aids. I had all kinds of social events and a busy weekend, and only ONE ear working.

I take scrupulous care of my aids: they go in a UV/dryer at night, I drop them into a ReDux super-dryer after the gym, and if I ever hear of firmware updates (usually right here at the forum) I get those done. But still! I get these odd issues. I’m still dealing with a corrupted file that was transferred onto 3 pairs of my aids recently.

Zebras: I’ve only ever need a repair once in my life.
You are LUCKY!!! I’ve not only had issues with my aids, but now one of my (redundant) Roger mics is in the shop at Phonak. It seems I stabbed it to death trying to get the gaddang license to xfer to one of my aids. They make it so difficult to use the pin on the back of the mic. Why?

Allen: Two incidents in more than 20 years of full-time travel, including some vacations to Europe, Hawaii, Alaska, and the Caribbean feels like good enough odds for me.
That is simply astounding. I so wish I had that kind of track record with my cluster-puck of rechargeables, Roger mics and now the new 312s. I admire your ingenuity and chutzpah getting to the audiologist on the road. Now that’s ONE situation I haven’t had yet.

Hearing aids since 2009, mostly UK NHS Phonaks. Dog chewing has been a problem in the past. Other than than, I had an NHS Oticon go faulty. They just gave me their newer Phonaks as a replacement. All very reliable. I do feel that the receivers are a weakness though, and should get some spares.

Peter

@1Bluejay said:

I don’t know why but it seems like some kind of karmic curse always dragging me back to deal with awkward and stressful events like NOT having a working pair of aids and then being in a situation (overseas, on the road, in a meeting, etc,) where I really need to hear.

The same karmic curse seems following me! :DDD

@1Bluejay said:

they go in a UV/dryer at night, I drop them into a ReDux super-dryer

I must admit I have never done that, simply because I don’t have any of these dryers!!

@BarryH said:

Maybe it’s because you live in a hot humid climate Zeeza

Maybe this is one reason!

@Zeeza said:

I must admit I have never done that, simply because I don’t have any of these dryers!!

If you don’t live in a humid place, you may not NEED one, but if I don’t drop my aids into a UV sanitizer/dryer every night, my ear canals ITCH. And that was a MAJOR gripe with the rechargeable Phonak Lumity Life aids. They had to SIT IDLE in a charging base all night long. With my battery aids, I remove the battery and put those Precious Pink puppies in my UV sanitizer/dryer when I go to bed. It really cuts down on the itchy-ear syndrome. Go buy one of these at Amazon22! This model is small enough to travel with.

Hmm, I’m not sure about humidity issue but no doubt Cairo, where I am now, and coastal cities are more humid than Luxor.

I’m boycotting Amazon. I might look for it on other websites.

Thank you as usual! :))

As everyone suggests, a back up pair of aids is a good idea for a person with profound hearing loss. My husband cannot function without hearing aids and so I am looking for a set for him and will likely find them on e-bay. He wants an identical pair, or possibly next level tech, so he can seamlessly go from one pair to the other if need be. It eliminates a lot of complication in terms of programming, apps and you can use the same accessories. However, I am rather leery of the dryers that are advertised for hearing aids. Even the most expensive seem to have quality control problems in recent years, and it is questionable how well they work. I am not sure it is worth the expense or risk. I am going to buy some desiccant and store extra aids in a box with a fitted lid along side the packet when not charging or in use once I have my husband’s back up aids, possibly rotating them, while I keep looking. I even thought about trying to make my own with a PC chassis fan but that is probably a bit over the top.