To get the most from your hearing aids, you don’t want them stopping because your batteries went flat. And Murphy’s Law will predict this will happen at the most inconvenient times! The life of your hearing aid battery will depend on many things, including:
- Your degree of hearing loss. Because the greater the hearing loss, the greater power the receiver (speaker) of the hearing aid has to produce
- The size of battery you have. Smaller batteries have less space to store the active ingredients that power your hearing aid
- Where you wear your hearing aids. When you are in noisy environments your hearing instruments will need to make many more calculations to optimise your hearing
- Whether you stream to your hearing aids
- How old your hearing aids are. Battery performance is one of the improvements that is typically obtained with later models of technology
- The quality of the battery that you use
There are some things that you can do, though, to maximise the performance of your battery:
- Don’t remove the tab on the battery until you need to use the battery. The battery will begin to discharge once the tab is removed.
- Once the tab is removed, allow the battery to sit for a minute before using it. This will allow oxygen to interact with the zinc inside the battery and allow the voltage to increase to optimal levels
- Store the hearing aid batteries at room temperature. Extreme temperatures, such as a glove compartment or a refrigerator, can affect battery life. Humidity may also shorten the life of the battery.
- Keep the batteries in the original packet. If they touch other metal objects, such as keys or coins, this can short the batteries.
- Buy your batteries from your audiologist. Because they will source high quality batteries, and will always have fresh stock.
Another thing to consider is a rechargeable hearing aid. Yes, you read correctly! It’s now possible to purchase hearing aids that you put on charge overnight so that you never need to replace a battery. Food for thought, especially if you find managing the batteries a bit tricky.