Hearing aids in summer: salt, sweat, sand and sun cream

In Puerto de Mazarrón, summer does not last three months. It lasts from May to October, and in that half a year a hearing aid takes more punishment than in the whole of winter put together.

The basic instruction from any manufacturer, and from the American national institute on deafness too, is the same: keep hearing aids away from heat and moisture. Written down like that it sounds easy. Living here and following it is another matter.

The five enemies of the season

1. Ambient humidity and sweat

It is first on the list because it ruins the most devices and it is the only one that acts every single day, not just when you go to the beach.

Sweat gets in through the grilles, condenses inside and corrodes the contacts. There is no moment at which you notice it has happened. One day the hearing aid simply sounds weak, and in time it stops working.

2. Salt

Seawater is far worse than fresh water, and not because of the water. When the droplet evaporates, the salt stays inside and carries on working. A hearing aid that caught a splash three weeks ago and “dried out by itself” may be corroding right now.

The same goes for pool water.

3. Sand

It is fine, dry and it slips through the microphone grille. Once inside, it does not come out without dismantling.

4. Sun cream and insect repellent

This is the enemy nobody sees coming. The cream stays on your fingertips, and it is with those fingers that you fit the hearing aid. Greasy products block the microphone grille and degrade the casings. The American national institute on deafness already warns of the same thing with hairspray and salon products: the mechanism is identical.

5. Direct heat

The car dashboard, the glovebox, the beach bag in the sun, the pocket of the parasol. All of them comfortably exceed fifty degrees in August. Heat warps casings, dries out tubing and permanently degrades the battery.

Beach routine

• Before leaving the house, put your sun cream on, wash your hands, and then fit the hearing aids. That order solves the whole problem.
• Take the hard case in your bag. If you are going to swim, the hearing aids go in the case, not in a pocket, not on top of the towel and not inside a shoe.
• The case goes in the shade and inside the bag. Never on the sand and never in the sun.
• Do not leave them in if you are going to lie face down on the towel. Sand gets in on the side that is resting.
• Dry them with a dry cloth as soon as you come out of the water, even if you were not wearing them: what matters is that your hands and your ears are dry before you put them back in.
• When you get home, clean with a dry cloth and into the dehumidifier. No exceptions, even if they never touched water that day.

And one golden rule: hearing aids are not left in for swimming. Not for a quick dip, not for “I’m only going in up to my neck”.

About that water-resistance rating

Many current hearing aids declare a rating for resistance to dust and moisture. It is a real improvement: it means they cope with sweat, rain and a splash without failing on the spot.

It does not mean you can swim in them. Those tests are done in a laboratory and with clean water, not with seawater or chlorinated water. And the rating refers to the device when new: seals age, battery doors lose their fit, and today’s protection is not the protection of day one.

If you are unsure about your particular model, check the manual or ask us. It is a thirty-second answer and it saves a three-figure disappointment.

If they get wet: what to do, in this order

1. Take them out of your ear immediately.
2. Switch them off and open the battery door. If it is rechargeable, switch it off and do not put it on to charge under any circumstances. Charging a damp device is the fastest way to ruin it.
3. Take the battery out, if it has one.
4. Dry them on the outside with a dry cloth. If it was seawater, first use a cloth barely dampened with fresh water, wrung out almost completely, and then a dry one. The salt has to come off; the water must not get in.
5. If it is a behind-the-ear aid with a mould, separate the mould and the tubing from the body of the device and dry them separately.
6. Into the dehumidifier, with the battery door open, and leave them there for at least twenty-four hours. With an electric one, a full cycle.
7. Do not test them early. Switching them on with moisture inside is what short-circuits the contacts.
8. If they are not working properly the next day, bring them in. The sooner they are opened and cleaned, the better the chance of saving them.

What you must never do with a wet hearing aid

• Hairdryer, oven, microwave, radiator or the car in the sun. Heat finishes the job the water started.
• Putting them in rice. It is not a dehumidifier. It is a container full of dust and starch that gets in through the grilles.
• Alcohol or hand sanitiser to “dry the water”.
• Blowing hard into the sound outlet. It pushes the moisture further in.
• Putting them on to charge.

Swimming with peace of mind

There are two different things people mix up: protecting the hearing aid and protecting the ear.

The hearing aid stays out of the water, in its case. Full stop.

The ear is another matter. Spending the summer in and out of the water leaves the canal damp for many hours a day, and that encourages irritation and infection of the outer canal — what has always been known on the coast as swimmer’s ear. Someone who wears hearing aids usually has the canal occupied twelve hours a day as well, so they start from less ventilation.

Custom-made swimming plugs are the simple answer: an impression of the canal is taken, a piece is made that seals and does not work loose with movement, and it lasts for years. They are particularly worth having for anyone who swims daily, anyone who has had repeated outer-ear infections, and anyone with grommets.

Generic silicone plugs from the chemist are fine for the occasional dip. For a whole summer, they do not seal the same way.

Sweat, sport and walking

If you walk along the seafront, play golf or cycle, sweat is your main factor.

• There are fabric or silicone sleeves that cover the body of a behind-the-ear aid and absorb sweat. They are washable and replaceable.
• A retention band or a safety cord stops a hearing aid ending up in the rough on the golf course.
• A headband or a cap that absorbs sweat from your forehead helps more than it seems.
• When you finish, remove the sleeve, dry the device and into the dehumidifier.

The dehumidifier, again

We are repeating it because it is the only purchase in this article and because it is cheap compared with what it protects.

There are two kinds. The drying-tablet type is a jar with a capsule that absorbs moisture; it costs little, needs no socket, and the capsule is replaced from time to time. The electric type works with gentle heat and ventilation, runs programmed cycles, and some include an ultraviolet lamp to reduce the bacterial load on the mould.

In a dry inland climate, a dehumidifier is a recommendation. Here, between the coastal humidity and the air conditioning that condenses it, it is part of the kit.

Before summer and after summer

Two check-ups a year, one in spring and one in October, sort out almost everything. At the spring one, aged tubing and moulds are replaced, the seals are checked, and you leave with the device in condition for the hard season. At the October one, whatever the summer has left inside is thoroughly cleaned out.

At MODALENT we do that check on hearing aids of any make, whether they were bought here or not. If this summer you have noticed you hear worse and have assumed your loss has progressed, start by ruling out salt and earwax. It is more common, and it has a better fix.