Battery life (again) and ear moulds

Hearing Aids
#1

I am new to this forum and have joined to try and gain knowledge as I am thinking about purchasing HAs after having had NHS ones for the last long while - possibly 4 to 5 pairs over the last 12 years or so.

I am appalled at the battery life being quoted of, seemingly, up to about a week. My NHS aids last just over 2 weeks with a size 13 battery. Is this the price we have to pay for progress? Do the newer improvements really make a bigger demand on the battery. My current aids are a pair of BTE Oticon Synergy Sense with a simple plastic custom moulded earpiece, and incidentally, none of the NHS aids have :crossed_fingers:t3: ever gone wrong.

I would intend to look at BTE HA’s, perhaps the Oticon More. Should I be looking at an alternative to the standard plain ear piece? I am wary of something electronic in the ear as I get quite a build up of earwax, and a pair of ITE HA’s that I had last century tended to get gummed up.

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#2

@wiclifmcc Welcome to the forum, could you post your recent audiogram?

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#3

Not yet!
Appointment is in a weeks time.
I know it is quite a bad cookie bite loss (or was) but the NHS never shared it with me

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#4

Welcome to the forum @wiclifmcc …… Just ask the NHS A.uD for a copy of your audiogram, they will give you it no problem…… good luck with your choice of new aids. Yeah, most new aids with streaming capabilities will hog your batteries, depending on how much you stream, and ultimately what size the batteries are? I get approximately 6 days with my Phonak Naida M70 with P13 batteries, but about 11 days with my Phonak Naida Paradise 90 BTE which use 675 batteries, but I do occasionally stream a fair bit. But there is rechargeable batteries, although I dislike them with a vengeance :upside_down_face: Cheers Kev :wink:

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#5

@wiclifmcc There are 2 options with Oticon More miniRITE:
1- R for rechargeable
2- T for telecoil (Blue Ear sign at the post office till/bank…) and uses 312 batteries

Not sure how long those 312 batteries last.

Depending on the dome, see fitting ranges below:

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Also, you may want to consider Bluetooth, as the More is MFi (made for iPhone), and I think ASHA for android (you may need a compatible Android).

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#6

Thanks for your comprehensive reply
I have also seen a More BTE version listed, but only the 85 model
Yes, one driver for the new aids is Bluetooth, and I have an iPhone, so all good there. I have a streamer for the current aids and it makes phone calls nearly enjoyable again. I hate having to wear the streamer though, as I don’t have that many phone calls but when I do, I don’t want to miss it.

#7

Kev
Do you find much difference between your 2 phonak models? They were another model I had under consideration

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#8

Try running a flashlight for 16 hours a day and see how long the batteries last. I think hearing aid batteries are pretty amazing

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#9

My point in battery life was that it seems to have deteriorated over the years. Part of this is the desire for smaller hearing aids and consequently the smaller 312 battery instead of size 13.
I can only presume that the improvements in hearing aids require more processing power and hence more battery power

#10

Are you changing because you can’t get into the clinic or something else?
Be aware that some clinics in England supply the Marvel, which is a good aid.
Battery life_ you were lucky ! Only get 6 days with my old naida spw.

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#11

I have received very variable quality “attention” from the NHS and thought that the private sector ought to be better.
I know that other parts of the NHS in Northern Ireland are under pressure and therefore on a go slow
I would like Bluetooth for linking to the phone, and I suppose I am keen to see whether the newer technology works better than my current ones
Current ones are not bad, their predecessors (or their fitting) were awful and I was made to feel I was wasting their time by asking for adjustment.
The aids have been getting better over the years, it is just a day or two ago that my daughter was observing that she could now have a conversation with me, unlike a few years ago when the standard answer to any comment was “what?”

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#12

Personally I don’t think the battery life is all that bad. But I would think that as aids become more sophisticated battery drain pretty much goes hand on hand. Considering how much I pay for the stupid aids battery cost is pretty much a non issue. Try power 1 batteries

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#13

Yeah there is a difference @wiclifmcc, after 30 plus years or so, with my Severe/Profound loss, I can easily say, Phonak Naida Paradise 90’s are the best aids I have ever used…. Closely followed by Naida M70’s (issued by NHS) with Phonak Marvel 90 RIC’s a close third, although these are all excellent aids, hearing aids are such an individual thing, getting them set up to your needs is key to a favourable outcome, that’s is why I (DIY) I don’t waver much away from my A.uD settings, I usually just tweak here and there, I can always revert back to the original setup/program, having said that, I will occasionally make a drastic change, for instance, I swapped over to NAL NL2 fitting rationale, on my Naida P90’s, NHS A.uD did REM, and changed me over to NAL NL2 on the Naida M70’s, I eventually liked NAL NL2 a lot, twas eventually crisper and clearer, I just copied all his settings over to the P90’s from the M70’s, and it worked a treat, P90’s are from my private A.uD, but REM wasn’t performed…. In all truth, DIY isn’t for everyone, I do not regard myself as particularly clever, I try to use a common sense approach, which works for me…… Good Luck, cheers Kev :wink:

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#14

Sorry to hear of your problems. It’s the same here in Yorkshire, they are just overwhelmed with the backlog.
I need new aids as I’m down on the audiogram but to be honest I’m dreading my next experience because I’ve had such good performance from my old ones.
If I ever get in at the clinic I’m hoping for M70 like kevels got but don’t think we’re that advanced.

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#15

You could be lucky!
I once got a new set of aids from the NHS as they no longer had the computer software to alter my old ones.
But I feel it is difficult to get consistently good attention from the NHS

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#16

Yeah @michael1, you might be fortunate…… Naida M70’s are only 2 year old tech, according to our resident expert on available NHS aids @Zebras, the M70’s have only just recently went onto the NHS hearing aid catalog, so hopefully you will get lucky…. Cheers Kev :wink:

#17

Yes NHS are always behind in technology.

Phonak Nathos Nova or Naida M70 SP.

Oticon Engage or Xceed 1 SP / UP.

Resound Ambio Smart.

All these have Bluetooth and are for adults.

Some people seem to get Starkey on NHS but I have no clue the name of them.

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#18

@Zebras Many thanks for this information

#19

this is only my first set so I have no history…
it does seem to me that even if you don’t stream or use the new tech features much, there is still a lot goinig on that didn’t used to be…auto program sensing and switching in mine is awesome… something has got to be always running in the background there

that said though I’m surprised at your observation. I would have thought the newer micro circuitry would be much more power efficient than the old vacuum tube technology :wink:

regardless… could be worse than a week… the rechargeable aids my audi was trying to sell me would need daily recharging!
I thought about that compared to the alternative 312 batteries she was going to put me in…then looked at 13 batteries…aid is only negligibly larger than the 312 & I get significantly better battery life.
I am extremely happy I went with 13 batteries over rechargeable!!!
With good batteries I get a solid 7 days (really 8 days+, but out of convenience and habit) I just change them every Saturday morning)… and that doesn’t seem to be affected much by how much I stream

#20

For anybody interested @Baltazard ? Todays hearing tests added to my profile.
Current looks like I will be ordering Widex Moment 440 as a result of my discussions with the audiologist.
Now to decide between rechargeable and the 13 battery
And, of course, the colour!

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