The Battery Life of Hearing Aids
July 15, 2020You are in the middle of a vital meeting, and suddenly you hear the dreaded notification signaling that your hearing aids have low battery! This may be annoying and catch you off guard, but with a little awareness and preparation, you may be able to avoid these awkward situations.
We often take our hearing aid batteries for granted, thinking that they will last for a very long time. There are several factors that affect the longevity of hearing aid batteries. Depending on the type of hearing loss you have, your battery life may vary. The higher your level of hearing loss is, the higher your need for amplification, therefore the lower your battery life will be.
We charge our phones pretty much every night, and hearing aids are no different from our phones since they too run on batteries. The more frequently you use your hearing aids, the quicker you run out of battery life. In case you use your hearing aids regularly (as you should!), you ought to carry a spare set of batteries with you on the go so that you can make a quick replacement whenever you need.
Nowadays, hearing aids do more than simple sound amplification! Modern hearing devices have Bluetooth compatibility, can stream radio songs, utilize hearing loops, and even has GPS technology! With so much going on, it’s no wonder that your hearing aids run out of battery so often.
If you use all the add-on features, your hearing aids will have a shorter battery life than if you simply used them as hearing aids alone. Tinnitus technology can cause a significant rise in battery drainage. Hearing loops and radio connectivity also cause a sharp increase in battery drainage of around 100%. If you use your hearing aids to stream calls wirelessly, you can expect a rise in battery drainage of as much as 300%!
Sometimes, there are factors beyond your control that can cause your hearing aid batteries to drain faster. This can include factors like the weather. Places that have low humidity tend to burn out batteries quicker due to increased dryness in the atmosphere. Conversely, even overly humid places lead to reduction in battery life due to excessive moisture that can lead to battery leakage.
Very low temperatures and very high temperatures can both drain your batteries quicker than usual, where your batteries may only last half the duration they do in normal temperatures. Even factors such as altitude can affect your hearing aid battery life. The higher your altitude, the lower your battery life becomes, due to the lack of oxygen available in the surroundings.
A simple tip that you can easily use to extend your battery life is to remember to remove the batteries from your hearing aids when they are not in use. This will help increase their life span. Always store your hearing aids with the battery doors open in order to ventilate them. Keep a spare set of batteries handy because you never know when you might need them.