Do UV-C Hearing Aid Cleaners Really Work?

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.

While their most basic function is to extract moisture from the hearing aid’s delicate components, different hearing aid drying devices accomplish this in different ways. Depending on the device you choose, your hearing aid dryer will employ heat, light, airflow, or any combination of the three, over a timed drying cycle. 

While heat and airflow are pretty obvious methods for removing moisture, hearing aid cleaners that also utilize UV-C light can help prevent the growth of mildew and bacteria even more. UV-C light is sometimes used in hospitals to disinfect surfaces.

Some of these devices also use desiccant blocks, which draw moisture from the air inside the case and have to be replaced about every two months with regular use. These work just like the little silica gel packets you’ll find in a bottle of vitamins and other packaging.

My husband works a physically demanding job, and I’ve seen moisture wreak havoc on his very expensive prescription and (more recently) OTC hearing aids many times in the 17 years he’s been wearing them. Suddenly, the hearing aids are cutting out, everything sounds muffled to him, and he sounds very loud to me.

The fix used to be to take his hearing aids to our local audiologist, who would put them in a hearing aid dryer to remove any moisture from the hardware. As you can imagine, the professional-grade hearing aid dryers that audiologists use are costly (Bastys uses the Redux Pro in her office, which sells for $2,750).

Most at-home solutions fall in the $50 to $60 range, though there are some on the market for as little as $20, and one I tried for this article is over $100.

I tried two of the bestselling hearing aid dryers at home, the Kapak Electric Disinfection Dryer and the Dry & Store Global II. While I wasn’t able to measure their effectiveness with any kind of instrumentation, they did seem to work. The Kapak has a rapid 8-minute cycle, and it does not use a desiccant brick. So this is a great model for those who need to keep hearing aids in a charger overnight (and want to run a quick drying cycle first). 

I also really liked that when it starts or stops its cycle, it beeps and vibrates. This is great if you would struggle to hear the high-pitched beep without your hearing aids (if you’re drying them in the box, they are not in your ears).

The Global II runs for 8 hours (vs. the Kapak’s 8 minutes), and it’s ideal for battery-powered hearing aids. In fact, the temperature inside the Global II may be too high for some rechargeable hearing aids (check with your manufacturer to be sure). The Global II comes with a Dry-Brik II desiccant block. This block will need to be replaced every two months, but it’s only $14.95 per three-pack.

The Global II’s power button is a little harder to press, and it’s a soft button that offers little tactile feedback. The button lights up when the dryer is operating, but the light is pretty dim. Considering that this will often be used overnight, that’s probably a good thing—a bright light would disrupt your sleep if this is kept by your bed.

While hearing aid cleaning devices may seem a little gimmicky, science backs up the technology. From my own experience, I can say that we no longer had to take my husband’s aids in for moisture reasons once he started using a hearing aid dryer with a desiccant brick. If you’re spending thousands on hearing aids, a product that can extend their life is probably a worthy investment.

The Hearing Industries Association advises that hearing aids be cleaned at home at least weekly, but other organizations (such as the National Council on Aging) recommend a daily cadence of light wiping and brushing to avoid the buildup of debris.

Take a moment to visually inspect your hearing aids when you remove them every day, and now we know that UV-C hearing aid dryers do work, so use one regularly, if possible. Ears are moist by nature, and making sure your hearing aids aren’t holding onto that moisture can prevent problems.