Air is involved in this three different ways, and one of them causes permanent damage. Worth separating them.
For a complete overview, see the full water ejection walkthrough.
Airflow the speaker creates — the useful one
The diaphragm's movement pushes air through the grille openings, and that airflow drags loose material
outward. This is the dominant force in acoustic cleaning for anything sitting in the mesh. It alternates with the
diaphragm, so gravity supplies the direction — which is why orientation matters so much.
Ambient airflow — also useful
Moving air around the device is the second most effective drying method after gravity, and it is
underrated because nobody can sell it. A desk fan on low speed outperforms every commercial drying product. Rice
is a weak desiccant that open air beats comfortably, and its starch dust enters ports and grilles.
Set the device upright in a room with air movement for 24 to 48 hours. No heat — hairdryers warp thin
components and convert liquid into vapour that penetrates further before condensing somewhere new.
Compressed air — the damaging one
Fired directly into a speaker grille, compressed air drives debris past the fine dust mesh into the acoustic
cavity, where no home method reaches it. It can also push the diaphragm beyond its normal travel. This is the
single most common way people convert a cleanable blockage into a permanent one.
If you use compressed air at all, direct it across the grille surface at a shallow angle, never into
the opening. On laptops the same rule applies to keyboard and vent cleaning.
Why the mesh matters
That fine mesh behind the visible grille is the only barrier keeping debris off the diaphragm. Once material
passes it — or once it is torn by a pin or a blast of air — nothing at home can recover the situation.