Cleaning hearing aid body with alcohol pad

Hearing Aids
#1

Should it be safe to clean the body of a Hearing Aid (Resound Quattro) with a mostly dry Alcohol prep pad? I did a ‘deep’ cleaning of my aids yesterday using a lighted magnifying glass - using small black brush, and microfiber cloth. I then opened an Alcohol prep pad, and cleaned out the ear dome, and before pad was fully dry, used it around the HA body. Same for other aid.

Now my Right HA is acting somewhat flaky - I don’t hear anything from the mics unless there’s a sustained amount of semi loud noise - at which point the mics pick up and I can hear for a few minutes. Then mics tamp down again. Streaming is not an issue - works fine.

Just wondering if I caused this by using slightly damp pad.

#2

I’ve always been told to never use alcohol wipes as it’ll damage the hearing aids.

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#3

Thanks Zebras… I was afraid of that… :slight_smile:

#4

What should we clean our HAs with?

#5

You don’t put the HA bodies in your ear canals and the bodies are brushing up against your “dirty” hair and ear lobes all day long - so using an alcohol wipe on the body doesn’t really do any good as far as sterility goes, etc. A dry wipe or the brush that most HA’s come with should be sufficient. ReSound advises against letting brush tips go down into microphone openings-probably the same for other HA OEM’s. I very gently blow out my microphone openings with a very gentle puff of compressed gas each day (my audi claimed I could do that but warned not to be too vigorous). I use a Jodi-Vac to vacuum away any major bits of debris on my HA bodies and don’t worry about the rest. I clean my receivers as described here: Where to buy hearing aid wipes? (probably overdoing it on the receivers/molds by a lot!).

#6

I’ve done the same as you, with the prep pad. I think the only real fear is that you might wipe the serial number off. I think in most cases the serial number is formed into the plastic, but without the paint it could be very hard to read. YMMV

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#7

Alcohol ruins the coating of the hearing aid body.

EDIT -

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#8

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I brought these hearing aid wipes on eBay. A pack of wipes (30 pcs) is 15 dollars. The chemical in these wipes are designed to dissolve ear wax. One wipe is used to clean the surface of the aids and the earmolds. After cleaning, I use a clean absorbent cloth.

#9

Why not just use Kleenex?
Been doing it for 8 years, zero problems, and cheap, too!

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#10

I’ve used Audiologists Choice hearing aid cleaner for years. Have not found anything better.

#11

The Hearing Tech at Costco cautioned me against alcohol, cuz it would remove the protective coating on the body, which is considered integral for the HA. The mftgr manual that came with the KS9s says No to even detergent or soap - use only damp cloth.

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#12

Don’t do it - I once saw a client hearing aid which had reduced in size a lot due to alcohol taking off the casing, micron by micron.

#13

Interesting topic here!! I’ve used alcohol prep pads to clean the domes AND body of my aids periodically for years. I’d always been careful to NOT rub the pad over the top of the dome so no alcohol would seep past the wax guard into the receiver, but I’ll be danged Narenkona if I didn’t have the SAME prob with my Marvel aids recently!

About 3 weeks ago, (after a bit of wipe-down) my RIGHT Marvel aid was acting flaky. I thought it was a dud battery? Then while on a speakerphone call the right aid just DIED - no sound at all on that side. Next day I dropped 'em off at my audi’s and it’s been 2 weeks with them in the shop getting repaired/replaced.

I guess I will no longer use those alcohol wipe pads on the domes when they’re attached to the receivers. I should’ve removed them first, cuz I bet I fritzed that right aid with alcohol. The fact that Mercury was retrograde exactly as this communication device has failed me is yet another galactic consideration. :face_with_raised_eyebrow:

#14

Bluejay, I also was very careful with the pad and made sure there was no excess fluid that could drip into the body of the aids. Here’s a link to more of an explanation that happened to me last August - that time I hadn’t cleaned my aid prior to it starting (and in fact had just had it in for cleaning with the Audiologist).

My Left ear hearing is very good comparatively, so until I can get the aid in for repair, and since I have the ability to program the aids myself, I just swapped the left and right aid along with the receivers. Which also let me see that it was only the one aid this happened to.

And ha! I should map out when this happens to me to determine those galactic considerations!!

#15

Okay - that IS interesting! I read the link to your previous problem, and can relate to that a bit, too! For me, when I wear the Audeo B-Directs (my backup aids), sometimes when I’m in a totally quiet place (like on a yoga mat, face down before doing stretch 'n flex), the right aid will “YIP!” like a puppy looking for it’s mama. That is sometimes followed by a low-level feedback moan - to my utter annoyance.

But your situation with the volume going DEAD sure sounds like some kind of chip malfunction. Granted you have Resound Quattros (vs my Phonaks). So do you think the recent problem was related to alcohol prep pads or just malfunction of the aids independent of that? What if your right aid has simply NEVER been “right” and you’re revisiting the same flaky performance issue?

Galactically, Merc was retro 1/30-2/21, so it’s a good time to get the aid FIXED. I say this half in jest, but I’m not kidding: SO many times I’ve had computer, travel or HA probs during that cycle. Now the good news: my audi pinged me an hour ago that my Marvels have pretty much been replaced after the right one failed out of the blue a couple weeks ago.

Hey, if someone said “Stand on your head till your ears are RED!” I’d do it if it ensured my aids never fail. :wink:

#16

I can’t stand the sticky feeling of wax on the domes. I have been using Q-tips very lightly moistened. I’m new to HA’s (Widex Moment) Is that okay? Someone mentioned getting a box of wipes on eBay but sounded pricey to me.