I just wanted to get your opinion on wearing my hearing aids at a hot tub party tonight. Yes or no? There’s a funny story to go with it…
My kids attend the same school as my neurotologist’s children. I have become friends with his wife, with whom I disclosed early on that I am a patient of her husband. (I wanted to be up front in case she (or he) was concerned about a potential conflict of interest should we become close friends.) His wife invited me to a party tonight and advised me to bring my swimsuit because there will be a hot tub. So I have two questions:
1/Is there any reason I can’t wear my hearing aids in the hot tub? I believe the hearing in my good ear has recently taken a bit of a downhill slide, so I think conversing without them may be difficult, but I’m also worried about the effects of the heat on them.
2/It will be cold outside tonight, as in -5C/23F. Would there be a problem with wearing my hearing aids in a hot tub in such cold weather?
I had emailed my audiologist earlier this week but she is out of office until next week. I really don’t want to ruin my hearing aids; however, it would be really nice to be able to hear clearly tonight. My friend has a strong British accent, so I already have some degree of difficulty understanding her. I fear if I have to go without my hearing aids, I won’t be able to converse with her. I let her know early on that I am HOH and have difficulty with accents. She has continued to pursue a friendship with me, so I’m pretty confident that we can make things work regardless. But I’d still prefer to be able to wear my aids if I can. Thoughts?
If your HA’s are the water resistant variety, you should be fine. If they are not, I would not risk it. The humidity in the hot tub will get into your HA’s and be very difficult to get out. Considering it will be cold outside, there will be a LOT of steam coming off the tub. The chlorine will do wonderful things to the electronics!!
If they are water resistant, then wipe down the outside with a slightly damp cloth (filtered water) to clean any chlorine off the casing.
We all decided to forego the hot tub for good conversation, so my HAs are none the worse for the wear.
I learned a great deal about our province’s health care system in terms of funding for CIs and BAHAs. It’s not looking good. My ENT told me I need to get involved in some advocacy work. Yes…yes I do.
I believe all “newer” hearing aids water resistant, aren’t they? I know mine are, and believe me, with two little people at home, their water-resistance has been put that to the test! I’ve been hosed down two times this summer. Both times, my hearing aids just got a light spraying, but I wiped them both right away and they did fine. I realize a hot tub in “winter” is a different entity, though. Humidity along with freezing temperatures are a bad combination for any electronic device I’d imagine.
I have worn my aids in hot tubs for years, well before any water-resistance aids were available. The temperature has no effect. The humidity might, but in my experience, it never did harm any of my aids in all these years,
As I had reinforced lately, you don’t have to dunk you aids to mess them up. Moisture such as condensation in the tube will block hearing very easily. I sent one back because the battery wouldn’t last over 4 hours. Gor it back with the program erased so sat with the tech. She asked ma about it and then asked how I cleaned the tube. I said I blew it out with air. Did you blow in the tube? Of course. Breath air is 75% water. Then she gave me a couple new tube wires and showed how to use them. Said likely my tube was full of water and didn’t need fixing at all. Lot of moisture sitting in a hot tub, so I’[d leave them in my pants.
I think that’s fascinating, and I’m glad to hear it. And, having spent many years working with electronics – some of those years in tropical environments – and a few taking care of a much-used resort hot tub, this totally surprises me. I can think of few environments that humans could tolerate for more than 30 seconds that in my experience might be more damaging to electronics.
