Hearing aid batteries

Only vaguely engineering related I'm afraid!

I've just been fitted with hearing aids and while reading the instruction book, I noticed that when fitting new batteries, the sticker on the battery should be removed 1 to 2 minutes before fitting them to the hearing aids to allow them to reach full charge. Any idea why?

Many Thanks, David

They are probably Zinc Air chemistry. The Zinc reacts with Oxygen in the air to generate the voltage. They are probably packaged in a vacuum ( or inert gas) to extend the shelf life. Removing the seal allows oxygen from the air to enter. It may take a couple of minutes to percolate through the zinc.

Proper hearing aid batteries are zinc air, the sticker covers a small hole which allows air into the cell.

I am so impressed with the knowledge on here. Thank you.

David

David, I have worn hearing aids for about 25 years now and I have never taken any notice of the instruction, it doesn’t seem to have any effect on the batteries performance as the aid fires up as soon as you insert the battery. Never done any harm to my hearing aids. Dave W

Might not do any harm to the hearing aids, but what about battery life? I have hearing aids, and frankly, I find it a right p-in-the-b when my left one beeps at me, waits a short while, beeps again, then shuts down. The right one, a much more powerful one, beeps at me, waits a while, and then shuts down without any warning. I seem to think that the LHS one lasts about a week, whilst the RHS one perhaps 2 weeks. Hence, anyway I can get maximum life before having to waste time changing them is welcome.

Happy hearing!

Peter G. Shaw

I get about 9 days from the hearing aid batteries, in use about 16 hours a day.

At night I open the battery case till morning. Never did find out how to switch it off.

I have a recently new set of aids which have rechargeable batteries, I just pop them in the charger at night and they are ready to go in the morning.

the charger also has a drying program at the same time, useful in this humid weather.

I always found the batteries a real faff as they never ran out together!

cheers, Martin

I have two hearing aids. the batteries last about 2 weeks. If one beeps I change them both

My first hearing aid used a 312 silver-zinc rechargeable which had a tolerably good life between charges. I could get a normal day out of it then charge it (in-situ). Then the (only) manufacturer of the batteries ceased business. I really didn't want the cost and inconvenience of single-use batteries when the existing one stopped working.

The audiologist then gave me a "really good deal" (yeah, right) on a replacement using a built-in Li-ion rechargeable which again lasts all day and recharges in 1 -2 hrs. It's actually pretty good and I can adjust it on the fly using a bluetooth app (quite handy for actually hearing the turn signals in an Altima).

Been using NHS hearing aids for about a dozen years.

The change from Analogue to Digital halved battery life.

Switched off over night, so about 50% duty cycle

Have never been told to give the battery a couple of minutes from sticker removal to installation and use.

Howard

Clive the hearing aids that I have, made by Phonak but supplied by the NHS, the only way to switch them off is as you are doing and that is just open the battery case. I find that my new aids, had them a fortnight now, eat batteries, they last about a week and they are new to me they are 312 as against the old ones which were 13, differentiated by different colour. Dave W

Mine are 312 - left & 675 - right.

Peter G. Shaw

Peter, asymmetric hearing aids, new one for me. Dave W

Dave,

My right ear succumbed to Menieres disease, probably initially in 2000, then started up in earnest in 2005 and in 2007 & 2008 I had two operations involving the use of gentamycin to kill the little sensing hairs in the semi circular canals. Two operations because the initial success rate is only about 70% so the unlucky people like me have it done twice. Now that worked to stop the debitating dizziness I was getting but at the expense of losing most of my hearing. It might have been failing before that, I can't remember, but since then I've had virtually no hearing in the right ear, hence the "ghetto" blaster to try and give me something.

In respect of the left ear, something happened in 2017. Prior to then, I had been singing with various choirs for something like 50 years and at the time of whatever happened, I was a regular member of two choirs and an occasional member of other choirs if needed. What happened was that one of the main choirs gave a concert performance of Haydn's The Seasons, and at some point during the performance I remember thinking that the little seven piece orchestra was rather loud. At the end of the performance, I discovered that I had lost low frequency response in that ear. Unfortunately, I was scheduled to take part in a concert the following evening, and another concert two weeks later with two other choirs. The only way that I could take part in those concerts was because there was another singer adjacent to me who I could just about hear. I obtained a referral to Audiology who confirmed what I already knew, namely loss of bass response, and gave me a hearing aid. Since then, that ear has changed again. Apparently I now have poor overall hearing in that ear but the bass response has returned. So overall, I've sod all in my right ear, and less than normal response in my left ear. So a hearing aid adjusted for my left ear response and the "ghetto" blaster above.

Singing has come to a dead stop - I just daren't take the risk of losing what hearing I do have, even though I don't actually know what happened. And lets face it, a choir and orchestra going "full chat" can produce a heck of a lot of sound.

Just for the record, one of the most exhilarating concerts I took part in was one where we ended by performing Handel's Hallelujah Chorus. The way the conductor conducted us was that during the closing phrases, we had a gradually increasing crescendo such that by the time I, and I think other people, got almost to the end, we were going absolutely flat out. This was followed by a silent bar and the cutoff was amazing - flat out to zero in nothing flat.

Tootle pip,

Peter G. Shaw

I am a volunteer with the Hertfordshire Hearing Advisory Service.

I believe that allowing a couple of minutes for the chemistry to work before drawing current from the cell extends its useful life.

I have bilateral hearing aids and change the cells when they bleep at me. It's difficult to say how long they last since I don't wear them when I'm alone.

My late Mother used to think that putting the sticker back on the cell stopped it discharging and I could never persuade her that doing so was pointless!!

MC Black

Peter, sorry to hear about your hearing problems, my comment about asymmetric hearing was somewhat flippant, to lose your hearing when you are a choir member must be extremely frustrating. My hearing loss is also somewhat asymmetric for two different causes, when I was 21 was posted to the Middle East and for 12 months worked with very noisy jet engined aircraft with no hearing protection provided, so from that time have had a moderate to severe loss of high frequency hearing, some years later a pressurisation accident further damaged the hearing in my left ear, since then further age deterioration has required ever stronger hearing aids.
My wife has lost all her hearing and is now profoundly deaf through having meningitis in her 20’s, this left her with epilepsy and progressively deteriorating hearing, she finally lost all her hearing about 12 years ago. She was referred to St. Thomas’s Hospital in London and was fitted with a cochlear implant which is so successful that she continually tells me to turn down the sound on our tv because I have it too loud for her. For those who are not familiar with cochlear implants it is inserted under the skin behind the ear and an electrode is routed to the inner workings of the ear and bypasses the cochlear and delivers electrical impulses directly to the auditory nerve and so to the hearing part of the brain. The sound is converted to electrical impulses by a microprocessor worn on the ear like a hearing aid and impulses are transmitted through the skin to the receiver that is accommodated by a recess formed in the bone of the skull. Cochlear implants are so expensive to the NHS that adults are only fitted with one whereas children will receive two, the implant for my wife was truly life changing.
To keep the theme of deafness in the family going we have a Turkish Angora cat, who is one of four cats that we have, who is totally deaf, he is always with me following me around like a dog, when I am in my workshop he comes and lays on the bench next to my lathe, he is perfectly content to just be with me, and he is intelligent enough to understand signs that we use when we need him to do things. Deafness can be a curse but it is a challenge that you just have to accept and get on with life. Dave W

Shall now trying to give the cells a few seconds between sticker removal and installation, to see if that extends life at all. Still using 13 batteries in the Danalogics

At the last test, about three years ago, was told that over the past five years, no further deterioration had occurred. (Typical noise related hearing loss the Doc said. What else would you expect after a lifetime involved with engine testing? In the sixties, only cissies used earplugs)

Was interesting to see the filtration being "tuned" to compensate for the 60 Db loss of response between 2 KHz and 8 KHz (Fairly typical of the range of the human voice, but handy to hear toffee papers being rustled! )

Howard

In the 60's I was testing line scanners which included high speed rotating mirrors. Really screaming noise. Ear plugs and Ear defender clamshells were needed. As I can still hear without aids (at 86) it obviously worked to protect the inner ear workings.

Dave W,

No problems. I simply took it as someone who had never come across asymetric hearing so I thought I'd explain what happened to me.

In respect of the singing, it hasn't bothered me having to give up: I suspect I'd probably come well towards the end of the road anyway as a lot of what I took part in tended to be repeats, for example the Haydn Seasons was to be repeated by the other choir 12 or 18 months later.

In fact, I do wonder if some of what happened to me was self-inflicted, eg listening to loud noises without protection just for the hell of it as a young man. I wouldn't do the same thing today, but as we all know, you can't put a wise head on young shoulders - and I certainly wasn't wise! And we just don't think of the damage we may be doing to ourselves.

But it's no good crying over spilt milk - it's happened, and that's all there is to it.

Cheers,

Peter G. Shaw