Forget 312 Batteries: Why You Should Start Thinking About Rechargeable

How we power our many, many different devices have evolved over time. Whether we’re talking about cameras, phones, music players or anything else, it’s crucial that we can charge them when we need to and that we can rely on the battery once it has been charged. For the most part, this is just what we get.

It’s taken a while, but finally, hearing aid technology has begun to catch up with everything else in terms of battery life, power and charging capabilities. A strong, rechargeable hearing aid battery is finally bringing hearing aid manufacturers’ ambitions of replacing outmoded throwaway power sources of the past to fruition.

Size 312 batteries have traditionally been the most common kind of disposable battery used to power hearing aids in the past and specifically the zinc-ion type of battery. Clearly, these batteries have their downsides, and this is why, if you haven’t yet thought about switching to rechargeable batteries for hearing aids, you should!

With roughly 180 tonnes of batteries purchased in the United States each year, it makes sense for every one of us to use rechargeable batteries wherever feasible. Does this, however, include the use of rechargeable hearing aids? Read on to find out more.

Disposable Hearing Aids Are Problematic

Apart from the environmental factor of throwing out old batteries and disposing of them once they have ended their useful life, there are other problems associated with 312 batteries. One of these is that zinc-ion batteries are activated when a small tab is removed. As soon as this happens, they start to draw power, and there is no way to stop it.

This means that, even when you’re not using the hearing aid, even when it’s switched off, if the battery is in the presence of air, it will continue to work. This is why your batteries will run out even if you barely use the hearing aid. So of course, you’ll have to buy more of these batteries, which cost money and you’ll have to dispose of more.

For the majority of consumers, the most significant disadvantage of disposable batteries is their short lifespan. According to some statistics, the typical life expectancy of a size 312 disposable battery is between three and twelve days. When you do the math, that means users may need to change their batteries one hundred and twenty times each year. This also means that users may need to buy one hundred and twenty batteries, replace them twice a week and properly dispose of them.

Advantages Of Using Rechargeable Hearing Aids

As might be expected, there are a number of benefits to using rechargeable hearing aids. For one thing, they have an extended shelf life. Current rechargeable versions rely on lithium-ion batteries, which can keep a charge for up to 30 hours and last for around five years before needing replacement. Meanwhile, depending on the type, hearing aids with disposable batteries need new batteries every few days to weeks.

As well as this, rechargeable batteries are safer for children. Disposable button batteries are exceedingly harmful if ingested by pets or children, and this actually occurs rather often. Unless the whole hearing aid is eaten, rechargeable hearing aids do not offer this danger in quite the same way.

Rechargeable batteries are easier to manage. People with dexterity concerns or those who don’t want to bother purchasing and replacing batteries will benefit from rechargeable hearing equipment. This is due to the fact that disposable batteries are often small, and the package might be tough to manage and open. If someone has difficulty peeling the tab off a battery without dropping it or getting it to fit into the compartment, then rechargeable batteries would be a tremendous benefit.

Some rechargeable battery types even let you recharge the battery without having to remove it. Users will set the full hearing aid on a charging station while sleeping or at another time when the hearing aid is not in use for these to charge properly. It’s highly convenient, and anyone can operate them without a problem.

While each of these rechargeable techniques has significant advantages over disposable batteries, each should be thoroughly researched to obtain a whole picture and choose which is ideal for you. It’s always a good idea to do as much research as possible and to speak to an audiologist about any aspect of your hearing aid equipment and hearing loss.

Contact us today to learn more about Advanced Hearing of Brighton and how rechargeable batteries could help you; you can contact us today at 810-355-2245.