Love My Disposable Batteries

Hearing Aid Batteries
#1

And feel bad for those in Southeast with re-chargeable.

Some homeowners stood in front of their homes, wondering what to do next. That’s what Barb Philipson and Phil Rogers were doing in Siesta Key, Florida. The three-story home they had built 34 years ago was about a mile from the Gulf shore but right next to a canal. The water began to creep in around midnight. By dawn, the invasion had ended and the surge retreated, but not before their entire first floor was scoured. The two had been without power for nearly 24 hours.

“I have no electric, so I can’t plug my hearing aids in, so I don’t know what anyone’s saying!” Philipson said.

Not good to be a crisis situation and you can’t use HA due to loss of electricity.

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#2

Sounds like they should have evacuated…
They can be charged from almost any vehicle
They can be charged a whole lot of times from a $15 power pack

From the pictures I see of Siesta Key this morning and reports 6’ storm surge i find this post suspect.

I think the disposable vs rechargeable has recently been beat to death several
times.

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#3

Another reason to love disposables!!! And yet another reason why I’m never switching! Oticon is gonna have to pry my disposables from my cold, dead fingers!

:rofl:

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#4

I can recharge them in either of my vehicles, including a hybrid which could run my fridge if I put in an inverter, and use very little fuel doing so. But, I always keep four or five of these small phone recharge batteries around, the ones given away as gifts at trade shows with someone’s logo on them. I’m not sure how many charges I could get out of one, but the hearing aids sure take less juice than a cell phone. I’ll probably also buy the newer Oticon travel charger with the 2-3 days of juice always there in its battery.

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#5

Please note that in the south eastern United States, after Hurricane Helene, many many people are without their cars because they have been heavily damaged by these flood waters. They don’t have readily-available access to power like we do in those circumstances.

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#6

Residents are free to go there. The bridge is open, and if the roads are intact enough it isn’t that hard for the authorities to shove debris off to the side.

Yet it’s still necessary to point out that people escape these situations with nothing but the clothes on their backs and the hearing aids in their ears. Have you seen the news from western North Carolina?

1 Like
#7

Exactly - Just think how many people with rechargeable battery aids, that are now without power in multiple states and you have a very, very serious problem. A good majority of those people are over 50 years old and certainly don’t need the added stress of not hearing property, while losing property, home, pet or possibly a loved one. And I bet a good majority of folks in flood areas also lost their charging unit.

So much for having aid battery power for 20 plus hours when you can’t even charge a battery. I really think it’s time for HA manufacturers to make aids that use both rechargeable and disposable batteries. Shouldn’t be that difficult but then again HA manufacturers make more money selling rechargeable hearing aids that require more expensive batteries and charger, then aids using disposable.

#8

You jut put a smile on Charlton Heston’s face - where ever he is.

#9

Whatever makes you people happy…

How many days notice did the west coast of FL up through the path into NC did folks have?
Why are the cedar key folks going back when there is almost nothing there (see pictures online)
Who can’t charge their batteries/chargers via their car or anyone’s car, $15 battery packs, car jumpers, etc… Hell my riding lawn tractor has USB ports and a battery.
How many of you are using cell phones with disposable batteries?
I’m sure not one place or person that has power would refuse your request to charge your ears.

1 Like
#10

This is a myth. The main driver for rechargeable batteries is connectivity and new power hungry alorithms. ZinkAir Batteries simply go down when high current peaks occur caused by Bluetooth, AI/DNN processors, and alike. Hearing aids nowadays offer next level performance, the battery system had to be lifted to next level, too.
If you look at the complete value chain, including manufacturing cost, service, repair, etc., the above statement is not really true.

My naive assumption is, in situations like the ones described here, people are in need of power sources to charge their phones, too, to get information about damages, open roads, etc. No? Would it be a wrong assumption (sorry I cannot tell as I don’t live in the USA and never whitnessed such a scenario myself I must admit)? So if we assume older batteries don’t work anymore: what would be the alternative solution? Cars and powerbanks were mentioned, one could even charge directly from mobile phone nowadays (USB-C). But maybe there are other clever ways?

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#11

Michael, I’ve suggested many times that zinc-air batteries can be made to produce higher current levels, as illustrated by the development of 625 implant batteries. What is your inside view on 1) Making aids that are powered by these already-available higher current 625’s; 2) Working with the battery industry to produce higher power versions of smaller zinc-air cells?

#12

It is the old question of how small is small enough. 312 size batteries are 7.9mm x 3.6mm and typically result in a hearing aid of 10mm x 8mm at the tail.
Now you could imagine if a 675 Ø 11.60 x 5.40 is used, how big it would get, making it difficult for many people from a cosmetic/comfort standpoint (glasses wearers for instance). The market segment for this size is simply too small I assume for the manufacturers?

For the current to flow you need enough reactive area with the oxigen in the air. I am not a specialist but I assume the diameter of a 312 is simply not enough to achieve that. This was seen back in 2008 already with the first wireless models which were still on a more power efficient 10.6Mhz wireless technology. Bluetooth is a different beast (even im marketing calls it “low power”…it’s not).

#13

Not a myth at all.

HA charger/unit - $220 plus (possible replacement after 3 years)
Rechargeable Battery - $50 - $100 plus
Rechargeable battery replacement cost/service - $200 plus

It all adds up though pricing above can vary, just like timeline of rechargeable battery. But we all know when a rechargeable battery reaches a certain age it no longer holds a full charge. Thus those 20 hours you used to get of battery operation can drop to say 16 hours due to age of rechargeable battery.

Bottom line HA manufactures make more money selling aids with rechargeable battery versus disposable. And last I checked cost to replace rechargeable battery is not covered under aid warranty agreement).

1 Like
#14

Michael, I truly appreciate your comments and time spent here.

An update==I am very grateful that Phonak replaced my Phonak Audeo Paradise P90R’s and charger. My old hearing aids were about 3 years old. I immediately noticed much better battery life. I can get through normal days now using them.

I am grateful too that i have the new 5.0 power receivers. I cursed the old 4.0 receivers every time I put my hearing aids in, knowing how difficult it was to to change wax guards. I did that often, and every time I did I heard better. I’ve talked to many seniors that didn’t know they could replace their waxguards.

And with regret yesterday I heard from a hearing care professional that in Ontario Canada there will soon be major changes in the workman’s compensation program for those who qualify due to exposure to noise at work. Goal is cost cutting. I’ve had 3 pairs of Phonaks in this program during 20 years of use.

#15

I had the IDENTICAL thought. On top of which, my new 312 battery Phonaks have been in the Phonak service shop for SIX (count 'em!) weeks! I pleaded with my audi for an update, and was told there was an issue getting parts for the one that failed on me.

Luckily I still have older size 13 battery Phonak Marvel aids. Cuz you are spot-on when you observe that NO POWER means NO HEARING in short order. I have no generator at home, and even a good inverter will lose power when cell phones and other devices are charging up.

Hearing aid makers’ insistence that we all prefer rechargeables is based on faulty surveys that ask folks, “Do you wear rechargeable or battery aids?” O’course the majority are now answering rechargeable - cuz HA makers have mostly stopped making any battery aids anymore. Hearing during a natural disaster or even terrorist hack is OUR problem to figure out if we rely on rechargeables.

1 Like
#16

It is worth to mention that sound processors usually have 2 or even 3 (Med-El) 675 disposable batteries at once…

#17

I have no use for rechargeables. Murphy’s Law always applies.

You can buy disposable batteries just about everywhere.

3 Likes
#18

It’s been mentioned in the Sphere discussons here that Spheres contain a 675-sized rechargeable battery and are big. I wore 675-powered Whisper hearing aids for a while and their size wasn’t a problem for me. I bet that most of the folks here who want self-contained, reliable disposable battery aids care more about hearing than about size.

That is interesting, but I for one have no idea how sound processors’ peak current draw and overall power usage compares to that of hearing aids. So this by itself may not rule out a 675 implant battery as a solution for high-current hearing aids.

#19

I have asked Copilot AI about implants’ 675 batteries:

Screenshot_20241002_174523_Copilot
Screenshot_20241002_174523_Copilot1440×1507 191 KB

“In series,” which means when there are two at once, they give 2 x 1.45 V = 2.9 V, closer to the 3.7 V of Li-ion rechargeables.

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#20

But I don’t see where the manufacturer is making more money with rechargeables? I have oticon moores. I had the choice of rechargeable or disposable batteries, and after a trial I decided rechargeables suited my life better. Sure the charger costs someone something, but it is included in the cost of the HAs and the price was the same for the disposable battery or rechargeable models. Likewise for the batteries - they were included in the price. I was quoted a cost of less than $200 for battery replacement (for both) AFTER the warranty ends, but during the warranty it is free/covered. I am told that most people choose to get the batteries replaced before the warranty ends. So I don’t see how they are making any more money off me than if I had chosen disposables. If at year 5 or 6 I need to replace the batteries again yes, that would be a couple of hundred extra, but less than $200 on the cost of these HAs is a pretty small percentage.