Should Your Child Wear the Aqua+ with CIs When Playing in the Water?

Summer is at its peak. Soon Sonya will spend her days at the amazing CampedUp in Manhattan, where the second half of the day, weather depending, often involves water games. When not at camp, Sonya loves to play in the many wonderful New York City playgrounds, many of which involve fountains.

While we tried to get Sonya to wear the Aqua+ sleeves when she was a baby, we found the silicone covers to be too bulky and uncomfortable. She simply won’t wear them.

Our choice was either to have Sonya be without sound or allow her to keep her CIs on without the added protection and take the risk of damaging them.

The good news is, three years later, we have consistently exposed Sonya’s Nucleus 6 devices to water, and have had no issues. If the devices drop in the tub, or get significantly wet, we simply put them in the Zephyr dryer overnight.

At a Cochlear “Back to School” event in New York City, the question of whether it was necessary to wear the Aqua+ was raised to a Cochlear employee who interestingly shared our sentiments. She discussed the fact that the Nucleus 6 processors are incredibly water resistant and  The Nucleus 7 are even more so.

According to this Cochlear employee, the Aqua+ is only necessary if the child is swimming laps, or has prolonged exposure to water. Simply playing water games, splashing in the pool or even taking a bath or shower is unlikely to affect the processors.

The bottom line is that ensuring that your child hears the many beautiful sounds of water in all of its forms far outweighs the risk of damaging the processors, which is unlikely anyways (and should be covered under the five year warranty).

So in Sonya’s words (a la Paw Patrol…) Ready Set Get Wet!

P.s. Sonya loves wearing her waterproof Rubyband headband when at the pool. You can find them here. You can also purchase swim headbands which fit the Aqua+ from Headbands for Sophia, another cochlear implant headband brand we love.

Author: Missy Kvitko

Born in Fargo, North Dakota, I grew up in Minnesota. After graduating from Macalester College in 2004, I moved to New York City. For 10 years I worked in the field of public relations, representing professional services firms and financial services (in particular alternative asset managers) In 2014, my life changed dramatically with the birth of my first child, Sonya Rose. Born with severe to profound hearing loss. Sonya's care has become my full time job. It is also the best job I have ever had. My husband, Sonya and I live in Manhattan. Please feel free to email me anytime at missy.kvitko@gmail.com, or find me on instagram (@mmkvitko) and twitter (@HearSonyaRose). Thank you so much for reading. View all posts by Missy Kvitko