Suddenly I have been reading advertisements for waterproof hearing aids: Siemens Aquaris; Miracle Ear Aquavi; Phonak Naida. I have problems with perspiration and hearing aids. Is this technology effective? Are other HA companies introducing them. Are there any disadvantages to what seems to be something new? Any comments? One would think that if there are no disadvantages that all companies will eventually have waterproof (or water resistant) HAs.
I’m just getting the Phonak Aqua #13Bte for a couple of customers, same as the MicroP unit, just better water resistance. Apparently you can leave them submerged for a day with no ill effects.
So far we have had a large amount of interest at our locations about the Siemens Aquaris, seems very popular with individuals looking to get past the sweating or swimming issues standard ha’s have.
I started with an Audeo S but switched to a Naida CRT because I kept shorting the audeo out from sweating. I’ve had the Naida for about a month now and haven’t shorted it out yet.
My only water problem is when it rains. It doesn’t take many rain drops to play havoc w. my HA.
I’ve said it before, if you don’t have waterproof HA and you sweat a lot or you’re out in the rain buy some Hearing Aid Sweat Bands, they work very well at keeping your HA dry.
Haven’t heard of those - I’ll search and see if I can find some. 
Thank you!
Great information Thanks
Several models are now advertised as water proof. The Siemen’s Aquarius, Starkey X Series, Starkey WII and Starkey Xino and Phonak Nadia. They are good for sweat, and getting caught in the rain, but should not be worn in the shower or swimming.
That’s a bit out of date now.
The Phonak H20 and the Aquaris are designed to be fully immersion proof during use. I think the Starkey are getting that way too.
Can you direct me to where it says so? I looked at the Phonak H2O stuff and every time it talked about moisture, rain, playing in a sprinkler, paddling at the edge of the sea, “having fun at bath time” - not “you may stick your head in the bath”. I found nothing saying “yeah, go on, swim in these”. The Aquaris at least say go ahead and swim, but I’ve had a bad time with Siemens aids before so I’m not really ready to go in that direction - if money were no object I’d have a pair of Aquaris just for swimming, but that’s crazy talk. Are Phonak really claiming you can immerse them? If so, where does it say so?
M H2O is WaterResistant!
M H2O hearing aids are resistant to water (including
temporary immersion), sweat and dust under the
following conditions:
J The battery door is fully closed. Ensure that no
foreign object such as hair is caught in the battery
door when it is closed.
J After exposure to water, sweat or dust, the hearing
aid is rinsed in fresh water and dried.
J The hearing aid is used and maintained as described
in this user guide.
M H2O hearing aids modified with either the designintegrated FM receiver or tamperproof battery door
are also WaterResistant.
M H2O hearing aids modified with a battery
compartment allowing use of an audio shoe and
universal FM receiver, are no longer WaterResistant.
Always remove your hearing aid before diving,
snorkeling, waterskiing or other activities where it
could be immersed for an extended period of time
or subject to excessive force.
Use of your hearing aid in and around water can
restrict air flow to the batteries causing it to stop
working. Should your hearing aid stop working
after coming into contact with water, refer to the
troubleshooting steps in chapter 6.
That’s a lift out of the user guide PDF - the reason that they don’t say that is completely waterproof is that you can’t put it under any pressure. Temporary submersion is fine.
It stops working when you get water into the tube or the battery runs out of air too.
However, the fact highlighted indicates that you can rinse it off: this tells me a lot about the actual water-proofing vs the claims.
Starkey have had waterproofing on their RIC aids since 2008 when the Zōn was launched. When they used to give the lectures on how to program them, they would leave one submerged in a glass of water for the two hour lecture and pull it out at the end and prove it was still working.
Last summer they extended this technology to all their hearing aids, including custom models. They added a second layer of nano technology that also repels oil as well as water.
So I would argue that rather than ‘getting that way’ they have in fact been the industry leaders in this, and as far as I am aware are the only company with water and oil proofing across every single hearing aid they make.
Do you/they recommend rinsing them in water after are used too?
Sorry to be the Negative Nelly here, but we can talk “waterproof” or “oil-proof” all we want but it has been and will remain a misnomer of sorts.
True, the Aquaris aids are, in fact, made to be used during swimming and such activities. They require quite a bit more upkeep in that the aids have to be sent in once a year to be re-sealed and such. I don’t have any patients in them who actually SWIM with them however, so I can’t realistically speak to that claim.
But as for the other aids, even my beloved Starkey, as well as GN Resound, other Siemens aids and Oticon - DO NOT be fooled by this “proof” word…please. Great strides have been made in moisture proofing, there is no doubt about that! But if aids were TRULY water/oil/moisture proof then I would not see aids with corrosion, visible condensation and the like.
Does this happen MUCH less often than even a year ago? YES But does it happen more often than I would like? YES
And be careful when reading about aids being resistant to water. These demonstrations of aids being dunked in water or images of aids with visible water droplets rolling off of the aids make me itch. They make me uncomfortable because they are very convincing (which is their purpose) but there is also a big difference between WATER and SWEAT. There is also quite a difference between rinsing or dunking an aid and the aid being exposed day after day, month after month to sweat and body oils.
So kids, Negative Nelly says, aids are much more moisture resistant today than last year, but not 100%. Just beware.
dr.amy
http://www.starkeypro.com/public/professionals/products/hearing-aids/wi-series/overview.jsp
We added advanced oleophobic properties to our HydraShield nanocoating to better protect Wi Series standard hearing aids from earwax and other oily substances. The result is HydraShield2, a new oleophobic nanocoating that, combined with Wi Series’ unibody construction and smart component placement, makes them more reliable and durable than ever before.
This innovative moisture protection system enables all Wi Series custom wireless products to provide unprecedented resistance to wax and water.
Thanks for that info. I remain sceptical about the idea of swimming in them, then. They say you can temporarily immerse them, so I suppose if you are off for the kind of swim where you mostly do a blue rinse breast stroke and might get splashed then that’s OK. If you intend to swim a length of crawl then forget it. They are silent on that situation, they say no snorkelling or diving but keep using the term water resistant, temporary immersion: how repeatedly can you temporarily immerse them? I tend to put my head under for 1 second, out for a second, in for a second… that’s only 1 second of immersion but it’s a consistent half hour of repeated 1 second immersions. For front crawl more like 10 seconds in 1 second out.
One might ask what is there to hear in these situations - mostly pool announcements, comments on technique from other swimmers, start signals, etc. I’d want them more for swimming with my daughter, which just now is more of a head above water thing and also for listening to music in the bath.
I presume they do a Secure n Stay for the new body type also? There isn’t a lot of poing having a sporty hearing aid which flaps around if you move.
No. I agree with Amy on this. While I have personally seen then submerged in water and surviving. While I have personally played with tissue paper treated with HydraShield 2, I think hearing aids are a long way from being like a diver’s watch.
If you keep getting your hearing aids wet, you are taking a risk. I think that while this technology is pretty awesome, it’s designed to make aids long term reliable and not just die if you get caught out in the rain.
Taking them swimming in a chlorine filled pool or in the corrosive salty sea is just asking for trouble, I don’t care what brand you have.
I, too, have problems with perspiration; I have tried the Hearing Aid Sweat Bands, and the ones that are like silicone sleeves- both failed miserably. The sweat bands do absorb moisture for a bit, but when they are saturated, they just hold that moisture against the aid, and don’t dry out. I now take my hearing aids out when it’s hot out, I’m doing yard work, housework, it’s raining, I exercise…
One thing I have tried has made a HUGE difference- the Dry and Store. I hadn’t realized that the other methods I was using weren’t getting the aids dry enough; after the first use of the Dry and Store, my aids sounded better. I’ve had my current aids for 5 years, and I am looking at water-resistant ones, for when these die.
bare with me this may seam off topic but its not, in that the op is being mislead into thinking Aquaris is water proof ! its not its water resistant
I have an issue with the water proof standard itself. Its misleading in the terms used “WATER PROOF” for average user they think it means impervious to water. In reality the standard is actually “WATER RESISTANT to 1 meter deep for 30 minutes” and it should be labeled as such. So end users such as OP and myself and others are not mislead to think it is something it is not.
I bet if aquaris was labeled water resistant another poster would never have let his daughter wear them at a swimming competition.
When I get the relevant info I am actually filing antitrust with federal trade Commission. IN USA What Every Business Should Know About the Antitrust Laws
Quote" ADVERTISING AND PROMOTION
Statements made in advertising, sales literature or in sales presentations must be free from deception to avoid violating the FTC Act. A statement is “deceptive” if, when considered, as a whole it tends to deceive the average purchaser. Deception may also occur where certain disclosures are not made about the product - for example: product changes, composition, dangers in use, foreign origin of the product, imperfections, and the used or rebuilt character of the product.
Substantiation for representations made about a product must be obtained before making claims to the purchaser. The seller’s lack of knowledge that a claim is false or deceptive will not stop FTC’s enforcement of the law."
Final point to this is there is no such thing as WATER PROOF AIDS! yet.
When they say water proof currently its a sales deception false advertising, antitrust.