It’s hot. And humid.
Perfect weather for ruining your hearing aids.
Moisture. Whether it’s humidity or sweat, getting caught in a downpour, or diving into the pool, moisture is terrible for your hearing aids. It’s damaging to the delicate inner workings (the microphone, flexible circuit board, disposable battery, receiver and antenna). And it can clog the tubing that connects your behind-the-ear processor to the in-the-ear component.
Wax: Hot weather seems to increase wax buildup, which can block your hearing and makes your hearing aid dirty. If you have a custom mold, waxy buildup may make the in-the-ear mold uncomfortable. If your hearing aid has wax guards, make sure you replace them regularly. If it doesn’t, a small brush and pick to clean wax out of the tubing and ear mold is helpful. Don’t forget to clean the battery compartment.
Full immersion? Accidentally dunked your hearing aids? Don’t panic. Take the hearing aid out and remove the battery (discard it). Shake the hearing aid to remove any excess moisture. If the water is salt water or dirty, rinse the component with fresh water. Dry it off and then leave it on dry newspaper overnight. You can also use a hair dryer but only on a cool setting. Audicus suggests putting the aid into a jar of uncooked rice. Never expose the hearing aid to heat, and if you’re thinking maybe the microwave would be faster, don’t do it!
Many people routinely put their hearing aids in a hearing aid dehumidifier overnight. This would also be a good place for the wet hearing aids as well. Harris Communications offers a variety of these, as does Amazon.com and other retailers..
Do hearing aids sweat? No, it just feels like it.
For more about living with hearing loss, see my books at Amazon.com.
Smart Hearing 
Thanks for this timely article, Katherine! When the weather is hot and often humid, hearing aids and CIs
should be placed in a dehumidifier every night. Doing that, helps keep all the parts dry and extends the life
of the devices.
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Interesting. I just got a set of Oticons ….but they didn’t come with a dehumidifier for some reason?
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I’m not sure they are part of the audiologist package when you get hearing aids, but the dehumidifier is not expensive. Where do you put the hearing aids when you take them off at night?
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Working in the garden while wearing your HAs is a good way to get them wet! When I had a garden, I often forgot this. A good partial-preventive is to wear a bandana headband or some kind of absorbent headband. When the top of head sweats, the moisture runs down past your ear–not good. A headband traps much of that moisture. It really makes a difference! When you come inside, open the battery compartments and leave them for a while to dry out in a dry place. The best plan is to garden w/o wearing HAs, but this is not always a good idea for other reasons.
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Good advice, especially about taking off the hearing aids when you come in and opening the battery door.
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Excellent observation. And good point about taking them off when you come in.
If i’m going to be doing a lot of leaning over in the garden, I take off my cochlear implant because otherwise it will fall off. I usually wear a hat so the hearing aid is relatively protected.
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I use Ear Gear hearing aid protectors. Comfortable and keeps your aids dry. https://www.gearforears.com/
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Thanks for the information!
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