Hearing Aid Allergy

When I got hearing aids last June, I wondered if they would make a big difference in my day-to-day hearing. I also wondered how long it would take for me to adapt to them. 

To my surprise, seven months later, I still haven’t adapted to them. The problem I’ve encountered was totally unexpected: It appears that I’m allergic to the silicone that the wires and domes are made of... at least, the parts that touch my skin.

At first I experienced uncomfortable itchiness. Then sores developed in the places where the silicone was in contact with my ears.

After a few months, the audiologist switched me to a different brand - ones with less skin contact and smaller domes. 

It still didn’t completely solve the problem. I could only wear them for a few hours before they grew uncomfortable.

She then suggested covering the wires with tape - which I did. There was less itchiness,  but I still couldn’t wear them for more than four hours at a time.

I began to search online for a new solution. Surely I wasn’t the only one with a silicone allergy.

I eventually found plastic spiral “sleeves” that fit over hearing aid wires, to make them look more like jewellery. They also came with “stickers” to dress them up. Children who needed to wear hearing aids loved the look.

I decided to order them from the only place I could find more or less what I wanted - an Etsy seller in Germany. I got a few different kinds, to see if one worked better than another. They are all made of plastic. 

I like the way now look and feel. Hopefully my skin will tolerate them so that I will eventually be able to wear them all day. Right now my ears are still sensitive to their touch.