I got the consumer Jodi-Vac ($99) and it works great. Will pay for itself by cleaning expensive Oticon ProWax miniGuard wax guards rather than replacing them every week.
I think most Audi’s will tell HA clients to use wax guards on your $2000 to $3000 hearing aid. I seriously doubt an Audi will tell someone to go out and buy a Jodi-Vac, though I agree with you there might be some savings (long term) vacuuming out aids versus buying wax guards. A wax guard can last two month. Using six wax guards a year is peanuts compared to the cost of a Jodi-Vac. Save your $150 or what ever so you can buy your cheap Roger Pen for $800. The way things are going it won’t be long before we have are first two new HA’s for $10,000 (or $5000) each. Now won’t that round number make you want to buy a Roger Pen, and TV adapter and Jod-Vac so you can push the total count over $11,500. At some point the “Bubble POPS”.
The Jodi-Vac is also good for vacuuming the microphone openings and the space/slots around my HA button/switch. Considering all the other consumerism and consumption in the American life style, people showing off expensive cars, expensive houses, remodeling those houses like crazy (in our neighborhood, at least), blowing wads of money on dining out, vacations, etc., paying $99 on Amazon for a Jodi-Vac is hardly the end of the world.
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Jim - you need to look at the “big” picture. HA’s are not cheap. I bet your first car didn’t come any where near the cost of a HA today. Even second car, depending on when you started driving. And I’m talking HA retail price. One of the reasons people don’t wear HA flat out is the cost. Thus the reason we are going to “over the counter land” next year. If you use a HA wax guard you get zero wax inside a HA. Its a “no brainer”.
I guess it all depends on how well off one is. Many Americans can’t even afford the HA’s. I “accidentally” married a woman who became an M.D. So $100 for a Jodi-Vac is not much in the “Big Picture” of our finances. This forum is a pretty select group of people - they’ve pretty much all managed to scrounge together the money to buy HA’s and maybe just like going out to a nice restaurant for dinner, some of them don’t mind spending $$ for accessories, too, to get the most out of HA’s from their point of view. It just seems two-faced for anyone to espouse paying a lot of money, say for Marvels, Opn1’s, or whatever, instead of less premium HA’s but economize on accessories to go with them. If we want to help people save money, we should tell everyone just hold off, if you have mild to moderate loss, until August, 2020, and you’ll save a bundle on OTC HA’s. That’s the real “big picture” in HA expense. It’s pointless debating this: those that can afford it and want it will get a Jodi-Vac. Those that can’t afford it or don’t want it, won’t. That’s the way it should be and no point telling people like me who are REALLY well off that I shouldn’t spend $100 on a Jodi-Vac. My wife and I taking our daughter and her family (two kids, husband) to one dinner at an average restaurant in Austin, TX, can easily blow that amount of money on ONE meal. When the other daughter showed up, it was $109 (including generous tip) for Chinese takeout. $100 is worth very little in terms of purchasing power in today’s world. A loaf of bread is $3 or $4 when in the 1960’s it was something like $.35 to $.50.
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Maybe zero wax in the receiver, but plenty of gunk in the microphones, the switch, and even in the battery compartment. As I said earlier, I have the advantage of having access to a microscope at work, and I’m pretty impressed with the job that the Jodi-Vac does. I’m terribly sorry that my spending habits fret you so. I won’t tell you what I just spent on a Roomba…
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Once a week I put my domes in a container and tip boiling water on them. I’m surprised it doesn’t wreck them, but it works great. Been doing it for months.
Hey, no need to bring the Roomba in this dustup🙂
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My method would not be recommended for any but the semisoft silicone type of mold. I drop mine into a diluted solution of household ammonia and water. I have done this for over 10 years and noticed no damage to the molds, but the wax dissolves from the molds very quickly without a trace of wax left behind. I then use a compressed air blower to clean them out completely.
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Speaking of Roomba and OT, I laughed hard and long!
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Not criticizing, but some of you really get serious about cleaning HAs. Somebody said “why use a vacuum when you can use a broom” in relation to complaints about expense of cleaning tools.
Speaking of broom. I’ve been cleaning my vent tubes on my molds with a single “tong” or whatever from a kitchen broom forever now. And I clean the outside of my molds with a toothbush dipped in peroxide. And to make it even better, I never use wax guards. They affect the sound for the negative in my experience.
Note the above is related to my Oticon Agil HAs that I’ve had for 10 years worn 16-18 hours a day. I’ve replaced several speakers (due mostly to sweat) in my HAs but only one receiver in all that time. Nothing else. Maybe I just got lucky…
Nonetheless going to start a trial on Phonak M90Rs next week. If I buy I likely will follow the same regimen
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I use the brush that came with my Phonak 70R along with alcohol free wipes on the domes and case…
Since I also have sleep apnea, alcohol free wipes are already in the house for cleaning my CPAP supplies.
Seems to be fine for me
@BlueCrab Ha! 17 days later I came upon your response (I honestly didn’t read the whole thread – just happened upon your retort) – and wanted to say now THAT’s funny! LMAO.
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OTH, I think it’s in Dillon’s book on Hearing Aids that he says cupping one’s hand around an ear adds 10 dB of gain to hearing - not bad! It’s not just a useless habit and it’s semi-directional, too. What more could you ask for?!
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In looking around for ways to clean silicone molds when removed from receivers, I came across this healthyhearing.com article that seems pretty even and balanced in its recommendations for HA cleaning. In searching for where to post a link on the forum, I see HT members have cited the Healthy Hearing site a number of times of the past decade or so. The article also provides good advice on when it’s better not to leave your HA’s outdoors in a coat pocket or in the sun by the side of a swimming pool, etc.
Seems like the most usually recommended method on the Internet overall for cleaning silicone molds apart from the receivers is to soak them in a dilute solution of dish detergent for a while, thoroughly rinse them and thoroughly dry the molds before reattaching the receivers. I’m interested in this because wax and debris can get in the receiver bore of the molds and the vent tubes and is difficult to remove from these nooks and crannies when the molds are still attached to the receivers and have the vent inserts in the Select-A-Vent bore holes on my molds.
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This is just another commercial plug for jodi vac.
If you are like me you will have the jodi vac set up in a place where you not only clean your HAs but do other things as well. I have found the JV to be very useful for some of those other things too.
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This topic is 3-4 years old now, but how about some new devices or actual insights and replies. HA’s are getting more and more like earbuds with wax filters etc. domes are getting custom molds or ITC HA’s.
I use to clean my Phonak wax filter in a eye contactlenscleaner, a 40kHz ultrasonic cleaner.
My earwax gets in my waxfilters and they occlude every 10-14 days. And the filters are pricy, so I try to re use them as oft as possible. I inspect them by making a picture with my macrolens on the camera and see if they need cleaning.
Now this website crossed my path: Hearing Aid Vacuums for Audiologists & Clinics | Warner-Tech Care
Any one or any thought about next to Jodi the SpinStation as mentioned here: GHI SPIN STATION EARWAX REMOVAL SYSTEM
Hope the old responders can share there recent findings also once more maybe with some additional information….
Thanks for your appreciated help in advance.
Yep: Jodi Vac. Love it. Used to go to my provider every two weeks or so for cleaning. No more! They love jodi vac too.
Yes, once again, Jodi vac is great. But, if you don’t have one and are going to buy one, get the Pro model. Costs twice as much but is more than twice as great.
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