Don’t Overlook the Importance of Hearing Aid Batteries
Wednesday, July 29th, 2009An essential component of a hearing aid is the hearing aid batteries. Without power from the battery, the whole device is essentially useless. In fact, they’re so important that a lot of people who wear a hearing aid keep a hearing aid battery tester handy. That way they can tell when the battery is beginning to run out of power. Then they can be prepared with spare batteries when it needs to be replaced.
The length of time that hearing aid batteries will last depends on the style of hearing aid being worn. The smaller hearing aids that fit into the ear canal have a shorter battery life. That’s because the batteries are smaller and contain less of the substances required to produce power.
The older, more traditional kind of hearing aids utilized mercury batteries to keep them going. These batteries are much less effective than the newer zinc batteries that are popular these days.
Something called zinc air is the secret behind zinc batteries. This is a mixture of oxygen in the air along with the zinc present inside the battery. This produces a reaction that powers the battery. They last approximately twice as long as the old mercury batteries.
You’ll find that zinc hearing aid batteries have a color coded tab. One of the reasons for this is so you can know the size of the battery. However, it also prevents air from entering the battery until you’re ready to start using it.
Once the tab is removed, the oxygen in the air is allowed into the battery. As the oxygen combines with the zinc, the battery becomes activated. For this reason the tab should not be removed until you’re ready to use it so it doesn’t start losing power.
Most hearing aids today use one of four different sizes of batteries that are readily available. There’s a specific size of battery for every type of hearing aid out there. The smallest size is color coded with yellow and is labeled a ten. The largest size is 675 and is labeled in blue. The small sizes are most commonly used for the smaller digital hearing aids that go into the ear canal. The large sizes are used for the behind the ear hearing aids.
The larger sizes are longer lasting since there is room to hold more zinc inside the battery. However, they are a lot more bulky. Many people would rather change the battery more often and have a less noticeable hearing aid.