News I just read:
New rules for the European Union. The law will start 2027 to forbid non replaceable batteries.
The only exception will be the allowance for waterproof models.
Very curious what this will bring us as HA users.
Can I finally get back my HA’s with replaceable batteries, great to hear.
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They will all be “waterproof”.
WH
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Analysis in Ars Technica, from last June. I didn’t find anything more recent or specific to hearing aids.
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I know and accept the comments I will get, but I hate and despise big government stepping in, and destroying businesses creativity. I worked way to much with in government and find that any time we give up freedoms to the government we never get it back and we even make it easier to lose more freedom.
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Well, I can live with Apple’s creativity being curtailed by the EU so it does not come every five years with another totally new, proprietary USB plug… or the EU killing crazy roaming charges for mobile phones…
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Well why even care about what Apple does in the first place. The best way to vote is with your wallet.
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You ought to look into the history of why the FTC and the FDA came into existence in the first place. The U.S. has a glorious past history of adulterated food products being sold as something they were not in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, same with quack medicines (Coca Cola originated as a tonic cure). The average individual, for instance, does not have the resources and knowledge to determine what some unscrupulous company might have put in their food (look at the history of fake honey or adulterated milk). Or look at the history of J.D. Rockefeller and Standard Oil, which basically defined the term “robber baron” and controlled essentially all oil production in the U.S. by the early 20th century. Ideally, big government is “us.” The hearing aid industry is a multi-national oligopoly. Their products can affect our hearing health. Should we do away with the regulatory agencies that oversee the production of these medical devices to allow for better expression of “individual creativity?” Here’s another area, just like food, where individuals do not have the resources and knowledge by themselves to determine what’s going on with any particular product they insert into their ears.
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I only believe in eating real food out of my garden or from farmers that i trust. I refuse to eat the so called crap the food industry calls eatable.
The best way to control companies is with our wallets, from my experience with government oversight and controls it doesn’t work and the consumer just pays a higher price because the companies pay off government bureaucrats to continue do business as usual.
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This is overstated.
The 30-pin dock connector came out in 2003 and lasted until 2014. That’s 9-11 years. Apple replaced it once — not every five years— once, with the much smaller lightning connector which came out in 2012 and lasted until 2022. Another 10 years. At the time it was small and reversible, so it had advantages over the mini and micro USB “standards” of the time. Apple innovated with a smaller, easier-to-use connector that I was glad to carry a separate cable for.
Fortunately, this is one area where the EU won’t have to legislate in the future. Apple will likely go completely wireless within the next decade. Wireless charging isn’t the fastest right now, but it would come with advantages in device size, reducing manufacturing complexity, more room for a bigger battery or other components, and last but not least: dust and waterproofing.
Dust and waterproofing is one reason I’m extremely skeptical that the EU mandating user-replaceable batteries is good for hearing-aid users. I would much rather pay to send my hearing aids in for a battery replacement than have them impacted by dust or water damage because they aren’t as robust due to needing user-replaceable batteries. Or I’d rather smaller hearing aids than larger ones that need to accommodate more waterproofing than they would have otherwise. I do agree that many hearing aids will be an exception to the rule as waterproof devices. (Hopefully phones will count, too)
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My assessment is that the EU direction to require all batteries in portable devices to be replaceable is primarily aimed at cellphones and tablets.
Hearing aids just happen to be caught by this direction.
Personally, I like the idea as it means portable devices that I own won’t have their working life cut short by a dead non-replaceable battery.
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I was reading about the EU mandate here that the law does seem aimed primarily to cell phones - for NOW. Yes, I can see where a “waterproof” phone (do any exist?) would not be held to the mandate.
In relation to hearing aids, this brings up a few things:
- Will the new mandate apply to hearing aids, too, and if so, by what date?
- How does one define “waterproof” hearing aids that may actually evade the mandate? Cuz the weakest link here is the speaker/receiver that goes IN the ear. That’s likely never going to be “waterproof”.
- If cell phones can no longer use non-replaceable rechargeable batteries, how come hearing aid makers can force nothing but rechargeable aids with clunky charging bases on US?
To beat the dead horse further, I find it premature that just about all new hearing aids are rechargeable. This has been forced on us BEFORE the rechargeables can even deliver a solid 24 hrs of use to the user.
The EU says consumers should have more control over their Android and Apple phones, so that when the rechargeable batteries that power them no longer hold a charge the consumer can CHANGE that battery themselves instead of sending it in for replacement or chucking it altogether.
The same logic does not seem to apply to an even more critical device: hearing aids. I am at the mercy of my provider to manage my aids. Not only do I have to go in for firmware updates on the AIDS, but they are also needed for the CHARGING BASE. I have no recourse for power if the aids no longer charge up, and I have two things to send in for troubleshooting and repair/replacement to Phonak if the aids fail: the aids and the charging base.
I’m all for the EU mandating that consumers should control what powers their phones, but I wish someone was advocating for us with hearing aids. They are not as versatile as cell phones, but they are FAR more critical to the person who needs to wear them. We’ve kind of had the rug whipped out from under us by seeing the relatively sudden disappearance of battery-powered aids, which happened before advancements were even made in rechargeable battery life to make the swap more palatable. At least to me.
Waterproof is not the same as water resistant
@Lostdeaf I know, as far as I know, there isn’t any waterproof HA, and @1Bluejay can testify to that 
The article I linked above says
Some manufacturers are already eyeing an exemption for batteries used in “wet conditions” to opt out electric toothbrushes and possibly wearables like earbuds and smartwatches
With hearing aids being wearable, and also being prescription devices, I expect manufacturers will find a way to exclude them.
Will this be a good case for class action lawsuit?
Radium suppositories were my favorite ‘thing to insert’.
It is stupid for HA wearers to be raped by the HA manufacturers for 100’s of dollars for chargers and for rechargeable batteries.
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Creativity?
US Dept of Justice is also prosecuting Apple for their crimes. Way overdue.