What’s the difference?
Hearing aids are smart pieces of tech which require quite a lot of power to do what they do. In our digital hearing aid range you’ll find ones that use disposable batteries and ones that are rechargeable.
Depending on your lifestyle and the brand you choose, you may find one type of battery is preferable over the other.
Battery hearing aids
Battery hearing aids come in a wide variety of styles from behind-the-ear to completely-in-the-canal ‘invisible’ versions; they use small, round, zinc batteries.
The life of a hearing aid battery is dependent on its size and how much work it has to do. For a person who wears their hearing aids all day every day (approximately 14 hours per day) you can expect a battery to last between five and 14 days depending on the battery size.
There are many factors that will determine the life of a hearing aid battery. Perhaps the most important factors are:
- Your degree of hearing loss - the worse your hearing, the more amplification the hearing aids must produce and therefore the shorter the battery life.
- How often you use hearing aid accessories - if you use Bluetooth® streaming on a regular basis (remote control, telephones, television, etc) your battery life will be considerably shorter.
To make your hearing aid batteries last as long as possible, don’t forget to turn them off when you’re not wearing them overnight. Remember, it’s important to make sure these batteries are kept away from children and pets (they are dangerous if swallowed) and are recycled properly when they’re finished.
Rechargeable hearing aids
If changing the batteries causes significant difficulties, ask your Specsavers audiologists about hearing aids with built in rechargeable batteries.
Our rechargeable hearing aids are available in behind the ear or receiver in the ear models. Thanks to developments in technology around their lithium ion batteries, they are still small, discreet and offer great long-lasting performance.
Today’s rechargeable batteries hold their charge for most of the day and can therefore be charged up at night – most styles come with their own charging case, some of which hold a residual charge and can be used on the go offering two to three days’ charge.
Which should I pick?
As outlined above there are pros and cons for both styles of hearing aid. The first step is to discuss which type of hearing aid is required for your type of hearing loss and then style that would be most suitable for your lifestyle – thankfully we have a wide range of hearing aids and our hearing aid audiologists will work with you to find the best one for you.