Ever Lose Hearing Aid or Speech Processor in Snow?
Thursday December 25, 2008
Have you ever lost your hearing aid or speech processor in the snow? If so, were you able to revive your snow-covered hearing aid or speech processor? So far, I've been lucky, this has not happened to me. If it ever does, I will try to bring my speech processor back to life with the help of a moisture removing device.
Comments
My friend and I accidently crashed onto each other when we were skiing downhill. Of course, I fell and my hearing aid FLEW off. Luckily, I found it. Dried it immediately before I put it back on. When I got home, I put it in a dehumidifier device for hearing aids. It worked just fine. Whew. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
I have not dropped my hearing aids in the snow, but I did go into the shower forgetting I was wearing my hearing aids! As soon as I realized it, I immediately dried them on the outside with a towel and then used the low setting of a hair dryer. I was panicked because I was out of the country when this occurred! After using the hair dryer, I was able to wear them with no adverse effects.
I haven’t lost in the snow BUT I have lost my hearing aids in the lake, after the guy driving the boat made a sharp turn and made me and three other fly out of the boat! That’s how fast he was going, well sad to say, one hearing aid flew off and went to the bottom of the lake. The other was still hanging on but I was swimming in the water. We tried to dry it out later but was a lost cause. That was an expensive boat ride! Oh others have lost a contact, and a pager. Needless to say we were not happy with that driver.
My advice is to purchase a plastic tether for BTE hearing aids. It is a plastic cord that you can cinch up on the earhooks and that clips onto the back of the shirt. I am active outdoors, and have had catastrophic moisture problems with digitals, so I use a waterproof nondigital BTE-The Rion HB-54 for outdoors. It is not superpowered, and only works in 1 ear for me, and it costs about 800$ each, but it works fine-available from Hearing Help Express online. They are a reputable seller and you can try it out free (except for cost of shipping it back if you decide against it). I do not work for the company-but it is the only waterproof BTE that I know of. The Phonak Naida was supposed to be water resistant but it failed in a walk in the fog. Hearing Aid makers can do better.
I lost my hearing aid in the snow by my house. I have such little hearing in my right ear that I didn’t even know that it was missing. I have a CI in my left ear, which was off. It was night time and my tubing on my hearing aid was so hard, that the hearing aid fell off and I frantically searched for it. Fortunately, the snow was hard packed and my driveway isn’t that long, so I found the hearing aid and it works! I always put my HA and CI in a dry-aid kit each night, and did so after I found it.