Rust on battery drawer turn-pin and inside hearing aid?

Hearing Aids
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#1

Had my Widex 440s battery for a while, and all has been well, except today I noticed a spec of red on the inner battery holder door, on the plastic part. It wiped away with a soft cloth. I then closely examined my hearing aids and wiped away a spec of red from the door turning pins.

I’m going to book an appt to have them sent out for repair ASAP, but I’m curious if anyone has had this happen with their hearing aids? I use a dryer every night, and I don’t wear my hearing aids to exercise vigorously, instead inflicting that damage (and more dry time) on my airpods.

All I can think is I went to the renfaire and it was a day with a lot walking around and I’m sure I sweated. I wiped down my hearing aids when I got home, changed the filter and swapped the ear bud tips because it was a rough day. I then dried them for a cycle in the hearing aid dryer, as usual.

Could I have wiped out the water-resist at the turn-pin so easily?

#2

Are you sure it was rust?
Was there anything on the battery, I’ve seen wax go inside the aid body on older aids and it can be deceptive.
Some people think the battery holder is metal.

1 Like
#3

I also saw the red color on the outside, only on the turn pin, which when I wiped it away was silver. The red color was only visible with the battery drawer fully extended and was at the hinge point next to the pin. Also these are behind the ear battery units to clarify. The receiver is not involved. I don’t think wax is going to migrate behind my ear. :blush:

#4

You’d be surprised, as mentioned it can/does get in under the housing of the HAs.
Unfortunately I’ve never heard or seen an issue like this, corrosion…but red I donno, should be interesting to find out.

#5

Got an appt for Wed, so we’ll see what they say. Of course they were all ‘oh we’ll pull the moisture out that fixes most things’ over the phone. (huge eye roll)

I control the humidity in my home and use the hearing aid dryer with the battery door open. I guarantee the aids are not going to have excess moisture. I’d bet my entire 401k on that. But sure sure – vacuum 'em dry, sure. Just – look inside first, please?

#6

maybe it was red nail polish

#7

I’ve had this happen twice on my Oticon Mores and have had to get them replaced as they stopped working. It seems with some aids, moisture does seep in over time; I also don’t wear my aids during more intense workouts, and still have had this problem. I am about to order a dryer to hopefully help mitigate this issue.

#8

Interesting theory - don’t own any, and it wiped away easily with a soft cloth, which nail polish would likely require a solvent or some scraping.

#9

Thanks for sharing your experience! I’m within my 3 year warranty so I will try and stand firm on them being serviced now, rather than ‘wait and see’.

#10

My warranty comes up in less than 6 months as well, and my audiologist and I already agreed to get a thorough check up and battery replacement of the aids the month before so I can make sure everything is in good condition when the warranty expires.

#11

Ok ok if we’re gonna go down this path then I nominate lipstick ; )