The question of precisely how long hearing aid batteries should be expected to last isn’t as simple to respond to as it seems, because battery performance is dependent upon a large number of factors. Battery life depends on the model of your hearing aid, and can vary widely even in different models created by the same manufacturer. The life span of a hearing aid battery also hinges upon the length of time each day that the hearing aid is turned on. Not surprisingly, the more you use your hearing aid, the faster the batteries will be depleted.
There are even different battery lives in the same size of hearing aid battery depending on the manufacturer, and depending on whether you are buying that manufacturer’s “premium” line or their “normal” line. Battery life also hinges on battery type; for example some varieties are only discharging power when they are inside a hearing aid that is switched on, and other types (for example, zinc-air batteries) start losing stored energy as soon as you take away the adhesive strip on the bottom of the battery and they’re exposed to oxygen, whether the hearing aid is turned on or not.
If you are looking for a new hearing aid, you might want to do some research in advance to see which have the best ratings for battery life, because that may influence your choice of which type or which model of hearing aid to purchase. The same research recommendation is true if you have an existing hearing aid and are searching for the batteries with the best performance for it; you can find out a great deal from consumer ratings and comparative reviews.
To make things easier for you, hearing aid batteries are produced in four common sizes, each of which is marked with a unique color code, which is always the same no matter who the manufacturer is. See the approximated battery life below to get a general idea of how long batteries of each size should last:
- Yellow – #10 – 80 hours
- Orange – #13 – 240 hours
- Brown – #312 – 175 hours
- Blue – #675 – 300 hours
Don’t forget to turn your hearing aid off when you are not using it for the longest battery life. And to make sure hearing aid batteries you have already purchased but haven’t used yet stay fresh and retain their power as long as possible, store them indoors in their original unopened packages, and at room temperature.
