Can the extreme heat and humidity of a scorching summer negatively impact the performance of your hearing aids? Dr. Stacy Chalmers, Au.D. shares what temperature swings, moisture, and even a hot car can do to your devices, and what you can do to keep them safe.
Christina in Normal asks, “Do extremely cold winters or really hot and humid summers affect my hearing aids?” Well, hearing aids are really designed for all-weather performance, and they can work in a range of temperatures from -13 to 158 degrees. But we do have to remember that they are tiny electronic devices, so we want to try to do everything we can to protect them and keep them working well. While it may be uncommon for any of us to be exposed to those extreme temperatures for extended periods of time, you may accidentally leave your hearing aids in your car, for example. This could cause damage to them, or even just affect the battery life in the long run. The casing on the hearing aid could potentially melt or get warped a little bit if it’s left in the direct sun in a hot car, for example. They could potentially get some moisture in them, and that can also affect the performance. And in our everyday life, just going from a very cold outside temperature into a heated building, for example, can even cause condensation to collect in the hearing aid, and this can affect their performance as well. Some ways you can try to avoid some of those unanticipated effects of weather would be to wear a hood, a hat, maybe use an umbrella. You can use hearing aid dryers that are specifically designed for hearing aids. Some people are tempted to use a hair dryer if the hearing aids end up getting wet or really cold, but you have to be careful with that too, because that is just another extreme temperature that the hearing aids might not like. So the good news is, most hearing aids can withstand extreme temperatures, either hot or cold, but you still should be careful. I’m Dr. Stacy Chalmers from Bloomington-Normal Audiology, and we’re ‘hear’ for you.