Sticky, Stickiest. Stuck – Very Stuck

Hearing aids and retubing

Learning by experience seems to stick the lesson in the mind. I recall finding out at an early age how the glowing end of a car’s cigar lighter could burn – and leave a circular patterned scar to prolong the lesson.

I also recall the hard lesson learnt about drinking too much as clearly as the time I discovered I should always wash my hands very, very, thoroughly after chopping chilli peppers before rubbing my eyes (or touching other sensitive body parts, come to that).

This week’s hard-learnt lesson was that hearing aids should be retubed every four to six months – Google will lead to plenty of info on this and how to do it at home. But, one could ask, what could go wrong by not retubing, it’s only a short length of plastic (like) tube passing through the mould?

We discovered that with time the tube can stick to the mould with adhesion and shear resistance that would embarrass epoxy glue manufacturers – friends who glue parts on ships and helicopters together (honestly) were impressed.

The small split became a serious problem when the tube refused to budge and tore off flush with the mould. Surely all that was needed was to use a paper clip or a same outer diameter drift to push the remaining tube out. Wrong!

After much care and different ideas I gave up and went to the hearing aid clinic confident they’d remove the blockage in an instant. Again, wrong! Increased violence proved useless and the advice was to come back in a week (earliest appointment) for a new mould, but try a drill in the meantime. I did drill the tube out with my trusty Dremel, but only because the mould had been truncated at the clinic, but Sue couldn’t use it.

While Sue doesn’t hear words, the loss of noise has been making her life harder, especially as her tinnitus has been overwhelming and exhausting. If we’d replaced the tube we wouldn’t be wondering how long it takes for a new mould to be fitted – but, to be honest, we were never told the aid would need retubing.

So we’re learning the hard way, again, I hope others learn from our mistake, and I’ll be fitting a new tube every four months.