In 2008, my three-year-old daughter was diagnosed with moderate sensorineural hearing loss in both ears. She got a pair of Phonak eXtra hearing aids and an Oliver the Elephant care package. Included was a plastic drying jar and a warning that moisture is not good for hearing aids.
The audiologist suggested a more robust solution so we purchased a Hal-Hen drying jar. It’s a glass jar filled with blue and white beads. The hearing aids rest on a foam pad above the beads. As the drying beads are exhausted, they fade from bright blue to white.
We used the drying jar every night for more than a year before having to recharge the beads. A minute in the microwave returned them to the appropriate shade of blue. The Hal-Hen jar was a perfect solution for the first years.
When Julia was almost five years old, we worked toward hearing aid independence by having her get her hearing aids out of the jar and in her ears every morning. A glass jar with a metal lid is not easy for a young child to open. I took to loosening the lid so she could easily remove it in the morning.
The beads needed recharged frequently after Julia became the primary operator of the lid. Some days I’d find the jar hours later with the lid still off. After three years, the beads were completely exhausted. That was an acceptable duty cycle for moisture sucking beads. The jar had done its job well.
If only it were easier to open and close!
We chose to replace the Hal-Hen jar with a much more expensive Dry and Store electric dehumidifier. It’s easy for our now seven-year-old daughter to open. It dries and kills germs. So far, it’s working well and our little person remembers to shut the box — an important part of the process.