Don’t Overlook the Importance of Hearing Aid Batteries

Hearing aid batteries are a vital part of the hearing aid itself. None of the electronic parts will work without being powered by the battery. 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 will know to have other batteries on hand to replace it.

The life span of hearing aid batteries will depend on what kind of device you’re using. The batteries for those small hearing aids that go inside the ear canal don’t last as long. That’s because the batteries are smaller and contain less of the substances required to produce power.

Older styles of hearing aid batteries used mercury to power the device. But there are newer zinc batteries that are much more effective and therefore more commonly used.

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 have about twice the life of the conventional 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. But it also keeps the air out of the battery until it is time to use it.

Once the tab is removed, the oxygen in the air is allowed into the battery. The battery will activate once the zinc and oxygen combine. For this reason the tab should not be removed until you’re ready to use it so it doesn’t start losing power.

There are four common sizes of hearing aid batteries on the market today. Every size of hearing aid has a certain size of battery that fits it. A number 10 battery with a yellow color code is the smallest you can purchase. The blue labels indicate the largest size available, which is 675. Digital hearing aids that fit inside the ear canal typically use the smaller sizes. The large sizes are used for the behind the ear hearing aids. You can buy hearing aid batteries just about anywhere where they sell hearing aids online.

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.