Batteries are a crucial part of hearing aids. It keeps the device running to help people with hearing loss.
Taking proper care of hearing aid batteries is a must. However, many people are not aware of how to take care of hearing aid batteries. For them, today, we will discuss how to take care of these batteries.
Type of Hearing Aid Batteries
There are four sizes of batteries used for different hearing aid models. Also, they are universally color-coded and numbered so that they are easily distinguishable.
- Size 10 batteries are yellow color-coded. These batteries are used in mini RIC, CIC, and IIC hearing aids.
- Size 312 batteries are brown color-coded and are used in mini BTE, RIC, and ITC hearing aids.
- Size 13 batteries are used in BTE and ITE hearing aids and have an orange universal color code.
- Finally, size 675, blue color-coded batteries are used to power BTE hearing aids.
How Often Do You Need to Change Your Hearing Aid Batteries?
One important question you need to ask is, ‘How long do hearing aids last?’ A hearing aid battery may last from 3 days to 22 days, depending on battery type, hearing aid type, battery capacity, and frequency of use. It is recommended to use a hearing aid with good battery life.
Users may need to change their hearing aid battery once a week or twice a month, depending on the aforementioned factors.
How Do You Know When to Change Hearing Aid Batteries?
Some smaller hearing aid designs may pose some problems to detect when batteries are drained. There are two ways to know when you need to change your battery:
- When batteries are drained, you may experience disoriented sound or may need to turn up the volume more than normal.
- Some hearing aids may signal low battery with a beep or voice sound indication.
Don’t break the protective seal unless you are replacing them. These seals protect batteries from discharging. Once the seal is broken, the battery starts to discharge and power hearing aids.
How Do You Maintain Battery Life?
Maintaining good battery life for hearing aids is crucial. Take note of the following procedures to maintain your hearing aid battery life:
- If you are not using your hearing aids, turn them off or open the battery door. Doing so while you sleep keeps your battery life healthy.
- If you are taking off your hearing aid for a long time, remove the battery from your device completely. It will reduce the battery draining problem.
- Some people like to store hearing aid batteries in their refrigerators. It is not a good practice. Don’t store your hearing aid batteries in extremely cold or extremely hot places. Keep it somewhere dry and at a natural room temperature.
How to Install Batteries in Your Hearing Aids?
If you are changing the battery for the first time, you may face some difficulties. You can easily change the batteries with the following steps:
- Turn off your hearing aid. If your hearing aid doesn’t have a turn-off option, go to the second step directly.
- Open your hearing aid’s battery door. If you don’t know where the battery door is, you can easily find it with a simple internet search with your hearing aid model.
- Remove the old battery. You can use forceps if it’s stuck and carefully pinch it to remove it.
- Break the seal of the new hearing aid battery. Let it breathe for 3-5 minutes.
- Align the + side of your battery with the hearing aid’s + side and insert the battery carefully.
- Close the battery door of your hearing aid.
- Turn on your hearing aid and put it in your ear.
Tips to Maintain Your Hearing Aid Batteries
Besides general maintenance procedures, here are some tips that will make your hearing aid batteries last longer:
- Always store your batteries at room temperature. Extreme temperature can harm batteries.
- Let your batteries breathe for 3-5 minutes before installing them into hearing aids.
- Avoid storing your hearing aid batteries in the refrigerator. It has virtually no advantages, and the batteries can get wet at any moment.
- Thoroughly clean your hands before changing the batteries. Grease and dirt can cause damage to batteries.
- Keep the battery compartment open at night while you sleep. It will allow the moisture to escape from the battery compartment. Therefore, the battery won’t be corroded or damaged.
- Remove the drained battery immediately. It will help you avoid battery swelling and can be removed pretty easily.
- Always carry extra batteries for safety.
- Keep your batteries away from metal objects like coins and keys.
- Check the expiration date before buying your hearing aid batteries. Try to get the latest batteries for additional safety. When you are installing batteries, use the oldest ones.
- You can invest in hearing aids that are rechargeable. It will give you some relief from constantly changing batteries.
Bottom Line
As your hearing aids are crucial for your hearing, investing in good hearing aid batteries should be a common practice. Follow the proper battery removal and installation process. It will ensure better battery and hearing aid health.
Make sure to change your battery to avoid swelling immediately. It can damage your hearing aid as well.
Rechargeable batteries can give you a better hearing aid experience. So, if you can invest in a rechargeable hearing aid, make sure to do it.
