You can keep earwax from building up on your hearing aids with regular manual cleaning. But step out in the rain, accidentally wear your hearing aids in the shower, work in a humid environment, or build up a sweat, and you might find yourself with a problem on your hands (or in your ears). All of the above can cause serious issues with—or completely ruin—hearing aids, according to Bastys, by damaging internal components that you can’t access to wipe clean.
Many manual hearing aid cleaning kits include tiny brushes, tube cleaners, and special wipes, but these tools do little to help with moisture buildup inside.
“General cleaning of devices does not pull moisture out of hearing aids,” Bastys says. “Dry-aid kits provide an added level of care by drawing out moisture that can affect device reliability and performance.”
To be clear, if you accidentally wear your hearing aids in the shower or pool, you can’t expect an at-home hearing aid dryer to get the devices back to full functionality. There’s a good chance you’ll need to visit an audiologist to (hopefully) reverse the water damage using a professional dryer and possibly replacement parts.
But if you want to find a product that will help you maintain your hearing aids and prevent moisture buildup from typical use, a drying device that uses light, heat, and airflow may be exactly what you need. On Amazon and elsewhere, you’ll see these marketed as hearing aid dryers, dehumidifiers, disinfecting devices, and dry-aid kits.
