Although it seems to be a straightforward question to ask how long hearing aid batteries are good for, it isn’t. Precisely how long hearing aid batteries last depends on quite a few factors. Just how long a battery will last is dependent upon which company manufactured it, and will vary across models from the same manufacturer. The actual life span of a hearing aid battery also hinges upon the length of time each day that the hearing aid is powered on. Unsurprisingly, the more you use the hearing aid, the faster the batteries will be depleted.
In addition, there are differences in battery life across battery manufacturers, and the exact same manufacturer may offer different lines of batteries, some that last for a longer period of time than others. Battery life also depends on battery type; for example some varieties are only discharging power when they are inside a hearing aid that is switched on, while other types (such as, zinc-air batteries) start burning stored energy as soon as you remove the adhesive strip on the bottom of the battery and they are in contact with oxygen, regardless of whether the hearing aid is turned on or not.
If you are in the market for a new hearing aid, you might wish to do some research in advance to see which have the best ratings for battery life, because that may influence your decision about which type or which model of hearing aid to buy. The same research suggestion is true if you have an existing hearing aid and are trying to find the batteries with the longest life for it; you can uncover a great deal from consumer ratings and comparative reports.
Thankfully, when shopping for hearing aid batteries, the companies that manufacturer them have made things a lot easier for you by standardizing their sizes and color-coding each size; the identical color codes are used by all manufacturers. The times listed below for each battery size are approximations, but can give you a general idea of how long hearing aid batteries of each size ought to last given normal use:
- Blue – #675 – 300 hours
- Brown – #312 – 175 hours
- Orange – #13 – 240 hours
- Yellow – #10 – 80 hours
Don’t forget to turn your hearing aid off when you aren’t wearing it for the longest battery life. To ensure the longest shelf life for batteries you have purchased but have not used yet, store them indoors, at room temperature, and in their original, unopened packaging.