The Science of Drying

Boxes using heat alone  lower the relative humidity by warming the air, but the amount of moisture in the air does not change. While warm air can hold more moisture than cool air, unless the water is removed, it can condense right back where it was when the heat goes off. That’s where the desiccant comes in.

Products without a desiccant might work fine in a desert, but in a humid environment they are simply ineffective. The Dry & Store family of products uses DryMax® technology, with a controlled amount of warm dry air circulating around all of the small ports and openings in an electronic device like a hearing instrument, and the powerful Dry-Brik® desiccant to trap and remove the water molecules from the environment.

Desiccants are essential for an effective drying experience, but it is also important to look at the different types of desiccants to figure out which one is best for keeping moisture out and helping to prolong the life of your hearing device.

The Dry-Brik desiccant is a molecular sieve, which is a much more aggressive desiccant than silica gel. Moreover, mol sieve (pronounced “MOL SIV”) is better suited for the operating temperature of Dry & Store. Silica gel does not work as well as mol sieve at our operating temperatures.

When comparing a molecular sieve desiccant to a silica gel desiccant, at 10% relative humidity, mol sieve can adsorb 15% of its own moisture mass, while silica gel only adsorbs 5%. This means the mol sieve captures more moisture with 3 times less material.

Our Dry-Brik desiccant contain the 13X ranked molecular sieve, which is currently the best. It holds aggressively to the moisture after pulling it from the hearing aid with very strong electrostatic bonding forces. Once the moisture is captured by the desiccant, it cannot settle back on the hearing aid. This is why mol sieve is the preferred method of moisture removal.

The Dry-Brik works to drive the relative humidity inside the unit to a much lower level than is possible with heat alone. It also traps and holds the additional moisture released from hearing instruments. While very effective at drying, the Dry-Brik capacity is not unlimited, and eventually there will be no place for the moisture to go. Replacing the Dry-Brik as directed ensures users will get the most moisture out of the device.

The temperature and corrosion rate are linked. There is a rule in material science that the corrosion rate doubles for every 10°F increase in temperature. Therefore in order to reduce corrosion in a closed system, it’s important to remove the moving water molecules with a desiccant. In addition, body oils and skin acids can be corrosive to hearing aids. The mol sieve desiccant removes grease and solvents by removing both carbon dioxide and water. This protects your products, sealing the ambient environment by a moisture-control desiccant.

The Dry & Store closed systems, along with the Dry-Brik desiccant keep the humidity levels low inside the drying appliance when not operated, which reduces the risk of oxidation. The humidity is reduced by physical adsorption and chemical reaction. Heat and molecular sieve desiccant combine to most effectively break the forces of capillary condensation, which is the hard to remove moisture held in the tiny crevices and pores of the hearing aid. The heat and molecular sieve in the Dry & Store system work together to quickly convert the capillary water condensate into water vapor, which is then swept away by the moving heated air and captured by the molecular sieve.

Some products try to cover up the odors with another scent, but our mol sieve desiccant removes odors. Undesirable odors are caused by molecules of compounds that our senses find unpleasant. Millions of microscopic pores in the desiccant grab some odor molecules nearly as tightly as moisture molecules. The mol sieve even removes airborne ammonia compounds (bacteria) found in sweat. Additionally, mol sieve creates an inhospitable environment for odor-causing bacteria to reproduce.

In summary, the Dry-Brik desiccant, along with heat and moving air, is an effective way to dry hearing devices. This combination pulls moisture from the device, removes odors, pushes relative humidity down, and dries the hearing device to the full drying ability, along with reducing the corrosive factor with increased heat. The Dry-Brik desiccant is needed to help to improve the life of your hearing device, keeping it odorless and moisture-free.