While the battery performance for hearing aids might sound like an easy question to answer, in truth it depends on a variety of factors. One consideration is the manufacturer of the hearing aid. Battery life varies by manufacturer and also by model from the same company. How you use your hearing aid will also affect battery life; the more hours each day it is turned on, the more rapidly you will use up batteries.
There are even different battery lives in the exact same size of battery depending on the manufacturer, and depending on whether you’re purchasing that manufacturer’s “premium” line or their “normal” line. Some hearing aid batteries will not begin to drain their stored energy unless they’re inserted into a hearing aid that is switched on, and some (such as zinc-air batteries) will start to burn power the moment you remove the adhesive covering on the bottom of the battery, and will continue to lose power even if the hearing aid is not on.
Because the cost of batteries adds up, if you’re looking for a new hearing aid, you should do some research to see which types and models of hearing aids are known for the best battery life, because that may influence your choice. The same research suggestion 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 available in 4 common sizes, each of which is marked with a specific color code, which is always the same no matter who the manufacturer is. See the estimated battery life below to get a basic idea of how long batteries of each size should last:
- Size 10 – Yellow – 80 hours
- Size 13 – Orange – 240 hours
- Size 312 – Brown – 175 hours
- Size 675 – Blue – 300 hours
To ensure the longest life for your hearing aid batteries when they’re in the hearing aid, turn the device off when you’re not using it. And to make sure batteries you have already purchased but haven’t used yet remain fresh and retain their power as long as possible, store them indoors in their original unopened packages, and at room temperature.
