Equipment Maintenance & Troubleshooting

Interactive Wizard

Interactive Device Troubleshooting Wizard

Experiencing hardware chimes failure, low volume, or constant feedback whistling? Click choices on the dynamic diagnostic flow tree below to isolate and remedy classroom hearing tech issues step-by-step.

Clinical Diagnostics

Manufacturer Diagnostics & Status Indicator Wizard

Select a device type and clinical manufacturer to inspect status LED codes, wax filters, coil locks, and transmitter pairings.

Phonak Sky Marvel

🟢 Solid Green LED: Fully charged (>80%). Ready for student use.

🟡 Solid Yellow LED: Moderately charged (30% - 80%).

🔴 Solid Red LED: Battery critical (<10%). Place in charging cradle immediately.

💡 Wax Guard Swap: Phonak utilizes **CeruShield Disk** filters. If sound is completely dead but battery is green, rotate the CeruShield wheel, press the receiver tip into slot 1 to extract the old filter, and press into slot 2 to snap in the new one.

Oticon Play PX

🟢 Green Flash (On Startup): Device boot successful and battery ok.

🟠 Orange Flash (On Startup): Battery low. Requires charging dock.

🚨 Red Blinking LED: Critical system error. Requires factory service reset.

💡 Moisture Check: Oticon BTE domes connect to earmolds via thin plastic tubes. If sound is weak or whistling, check for water droplets in the earmold tube. Use a small blower bulb to blow dry air through the earmold tube.

Cochlear Ltd (Nucleus 7 / Kanso 2)

🟢 Blinking Green (Flash every 3s): Normal neural lock. Streaming audio.

🟠 Blinking Orange (Flash every 1s): Off-Coil / Disconnect. The headpiece magnet has fallen off the student's scalp. Re-seat magnet.

🔴 Blinking Red: System fault or dead battery. Swap module immediately.

💡 Microphone Protectors: If student complains of quiet or muffled sound, replace the slip-on Kanso 2 microphone protector grids, which can get blocked by skin oils and sweat.

Advanced Bionics Naida CI sound processor

Advanced Bionics (Naída CI / Sky CI)

🟢 Solid Green LED (boot): Battery level is healthy (>50%).

🟠 Solid Orange LED: Magnet lock failed / Processor is off-ear.

🔴 Slow Blinking Red: Battery exhausted. Replace battery boot.

💡 Headband Magnet Sync: Naída processors can be worn in an off-the-ear clip. Ensure the headpiece cable plug is locked securely in the processor socket and the scalp magnet is aligned flat.

MED-EL (Sonnet 2 / Rondo 3)

🟢 Blinking Green: System fully functional, microphone locks locked.

🔴 Blinking Red/Orange: Cable failure. The thin, flexible Sonnet coil cable is likely broken inside. Swap with a backup coil cable immediately.

🚨 Continuous Red: Hardware lock failed. Contact the itinerant specialist.

💡 Coil Cable Diagnostics: MED-EL's coil cables are modular. Always check the tiny golden connection pins at both processor and coil ends for corrosion or moisture.

Phonak Roger Touchscreen / Pen

HAT

🟢 Solid Green Light: Transmitter active and broadcasting speech.

🔴 Solid Red light (on power): Muted. Press physical mute button to resume.

📶 Channel Pairing: Place Roger transmitter within 4 inches of the student's hearing aid or CI ear-level receiver. Tap **Connect** on the screen. Successful sync triggers a soft chime in the student's ear.

💡 Subnetwork Lock: Lock the Roger channel to prevent interference from adjacent Roger mics in other classrooms. Tap **Channel Lock** under transmitter advanced options.

Mini Mic 2+ & EduMic

HAT

🟢 Green blinking: Normal streaming. Speak clearly.

🔵 Solid Blue light: AUX / FM cable streaming is active. Plug into the smartboard.

🟡 Solid Yellow light: Muted. Press the power button once to un-mute.

💡 Classroom Speaker Pairing: To stream audio from an EduMic to a soundfield classroom speaker: Press and hold the pairing button on both EduMic and speaker unit. Keep them within 1 foot of each other until the pairing LED turns green.

Battery & Accessories Care

Classroom Battery Systems & Power Accessories

DHH classroom tech is powered by either traditional air-activated disposable batteries or high-capacity rechargeable Lithium-Ion systems. Follow these guidelines to maintain constant classroom power.

Traditional Zinc-Air Batteries

Size 10 (Yellow)

Micro BTE/ITE devices

Size 312 (Brown)

Standard mini-BTE aids

Size 13 (Orange)

High power BTE aids

Size 675 (Blue)

Super power aids & CI units

⚠️ The 60-Second Oxygen Rule:

Zinc-Air batteries use small air holes sealed by a sticker. You MUST peel the sticker off and wait exactly 1 minute before placing it in the device. Closing the battery drawer too early seals out oxygen, causing the battery to act dead or die within hours!

Rechargeable Systems & Power Accessories

🔌

Charging Cases & Docks

Modern Lithium-Ion aids stay in their charging slots overnight. Placing them inside automatically powers them off and triggers a flashing charging light. Make sure charger units are plugged in and BTE earmolds are positioned cleanly in the outer case recesses so the cover closes securely.

✨

Gold Charging Contacts & Cleanliness

Pocket lint, earwax, or sweat on the gold contacts (on both the hearing aid spine and the charger slot base) will halt charging completely. **Clean these contacts weekly** with a dry cotton swab (Q-tip) or a soft cleaning brush. Never clean using water, alcohol, or metal scrapers!

📊

Battery Testing & Diagnostic Strategies

For zinc-air, check voltage with a dedicated **digital battery tester** (a read-out less than 1.1V means replace). For rechargeable devices, check levels using the iPad **Accessibility -> Hearing Devices** panel, or double-check the LED blink indicator when placing the aid in the charging dock.

Bluetooth & iPad Pairing

1. Connect Roger to Smartboard/iPad

Plug a standard 3.5mm auxiliary audio cable from the smartboard headphone jack into the Roger Touchscreen microphone bottom input. The transmitter will automatically mute its local room microphone and stream smartboard audio directly to the student’s ears!

2. Direct Bluetooth to Personal Aids

To pair hearing aids directly to an iPad: Open **Settings** -> **Accessibility** -> **Hearing Devices**. Open and close the student's battery door to trigger Bluetooth pairing discovery. Select their device name on the screen to connect.

Weekly Moisture & Cleaning Care

🔄 Changing the Wax Guard (Filter)

1. Take a fresh guard stick from the wheel tool.
2. Press the empty black side of the stick directly into the clogged wax guard inside the speaker dome to pop it out.
3. Flip the tool and press the new white wax guard into place. Discard the stick.

💧 Night-time Dehumidification

Moisture from sweat and ear humidity builds up inside the plastic tubes, causing static distortion. Open the battery doors and place the devices inside a sealed silica gel **drying jar** or an electric UV drying chamber each night.