Capt Steve
US Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 17, 2008
- Messages
- 1,674
- Reaction score
- 2,974
I know there are a lot of folks out there that wear{and even more that should}, hearing aides. Gunfire will do that and yes boys and girls a single shot can blow your hearing out for life... don't ask me how I know this.... but I digress.
I have been wearing hearing aides for the last 20 years and the good news is they keep getting better and better. The VA started providing them a couple of years ago {Hooray!}, and I currently have an amazing pair made by Phonak {I found Siemens to consistently be garbage}. As great as the Phonak's are they are not water proof.
To say the least last week was just about the most stressful of my life. Got the call just after midnight that my mom, 86, had died at the nursing home in San Diego, we live in Tucson. She had suffered from severe Parkinson's and Alzheimers for years and had no life and she passed peacefully in her sleep.
I tried to grab a couple of hours of sleep with little success and we were up at 4 and on the road for the six hour drive by 5. My dad also has Alzheimer's/severe dementia and lives in an adjacent nursing facility. Arriving Monday morning at 11 I spent the week dealing with dad and the mountain of paperwork. Met with the lawyers, financial advisor, accountant, bankers, brokers etc., you get the idea.
After a particularly stressful day we were relaxing at my friends home that he graciously allows us to use on our frequent {10 so far this year}, visits to San Diego. Long story short I dove into the pool wearing my hearing aides. ARRRRG!
I not only got them wet, I took them for a serious swim doing two laps underwater, all the way down to the 8' drain before surfacing and realizing my "error". Not the stupidest thing I have ever done but certainly in the top 10... OK, top 3.
Jumped out and removed the batteries, gently dried them with a towel and retrieved a hair dryer. The key here is to use the hair dryer on the lowest setting holding the hearing aides in the palm of your hand. If you hand is too hot, so are they. {Yes, I had researched this on the internet years ago knowing that someday I would probably benefit from this information, yep I am that dumb}.
After about 5 minutes with the hairdryer {on low}, I put them in a baggy full of rice and sealed them up. Leave them untouched for a full 24 hours, The rice will wick away the moisture but don't ry to rush the process.
After 24 hours {and one minute}, I reassembled them and put in new batteries. They worked perfectly and now after 2 days they continue to function. I will stop by the VA this week and have them checked out but it would seem that they were in fact saved.
I never would have believed this was possible given the depth and time of immersion but if you get yours wet don't give up {though I suspect that time is of the essence}, you got a shot.
Hope this helps someone else out there... got VERY lucky and it worked for me.
I have been wearing hearing aides for the last 20 years and the good news is they keep getting better and better. The VA started providing them a couple of years ago {Hooray!}, and I currently have an amazing pair made by Phonak {I found Siemens to consistently be garbage}. As great as the Phonak's are they are not water proof.
To say the least last week was just about the most stressful of my life. Got the call just after midnight that my mom, 86, had died at the nursing home in San Diego, we live in Tucson. She had suffered from severe Parkinson's and Alzheimers for years and had no life and she passed peacefully in her sleep.
I tried to grab a couple of hours of sleep with little success and we were up at 4 and on the road for the six hour drive by 5. My dad also has Alzheimer's/severe dementia and lives in an adjacent nursing facility. Arriving Monday morning at 11 I spent the week dealing with dad and the mountain of paperwork. Met with the lawyers, financial advisor, accountant, bankers, brokers etc., you get the idea.
After a particularly stressful day we were relaxing at my friends home that he graciously allows us to use on our frequent {10 so far this year}, visits to San Diego. Long story short I dove into the pool wearing my hearing aides. ARRRRG!
I not only got them wet, I took them for a serious swim doing two laps underwater, all the way down to the 8' drain before surfacing and realizing my "error". Not the stupidest thing I have ever done but certainly in the top 10... OK, top 3.
Jumped out and removed the batteries, gently dried them with a towel and retrieved a hair dryer. The key here is to use the hair dryer on the lowest setting holding the hearing aides in the palm of your hand. If you hand is too hot, so are they. {Yes, I had researched this on the internet years ago knowing that someday I would probably benefit from this information, yep I am that dumb}.
After about 5 minutes with the hairdryer {on low}, I put them in a baggy full of rice and sealed them up. Leave them untouched for a full 24 hours, The rice will wick away the moisture but don't ry to rush the process.
After 24 hours {and one minute}, I reassembled them and put in new batteries. They worked perfectly and now after 2 days they continue to function. I will stop by the VA this week and have them checked out but it would seem that they were in fact saved.
I never would have believed this was possible given the depth and time of immersion but if you get yours wet don't give up {though I suspect that time is of the essence}, you got a shot.
Hope this helps someone else out there... got VERY lucky and it worked for me.
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