Skip to content
HearingTracker
Log in

Rechargeable aids: wanted by customers or by factories?

341 replies10.3k viewsLast reply

Jump
Link to this topic
Reply

hi all,

Last year I attended a meeting with working hearing aid users.
Several attendees complainted about the experience with rechargealbe hearing aids.
You have to recharge them during the day. For active people that means you have to carry the recharge gadgets with you and awkward situations during the day etc. When a disaster arrives, I will be deaf within a few days without a recharging option.Batteries i can buy in multitude and take with me wherever I go.

When i look at the new models from several brands I see not a single model with battery supply (e.g. ReSound Enzo Q IA, Phonak Audéo Sphere).

Are there more of you that are worried about this?

can we do something about this?

76 people in this conversation158 min readJump to latest

I have been wearing aids for 20 years and rechargeable aids for about 6 years now and I definitely prefer rechargeable hearing aids. But I am retired. I wear my aids on average 14 hours a day. I have had very long days of traveling and worn my aids over 20 hours. My aids get charged over night only. But my hearing loss is such that I am never without a backup set of aids if my primary aids need repairs. I stream all of my calls and also audiobooks. My average day is 4 hours streaming. Since wearing rechargeable aids I have had only 2 of my aids getting replacement batteries and that was the maintenance of prepping the set for becoming my backup set of aids. Would I go back to disposable batteries. Yes if I could wear aids again and the aids didn’t not offer a rechargeable battery option.

Due to my long-held opposition to all things Apple, I chose Phonak 3 years ago for their use of Bluetooth. My previous (first) aids were 312’s. Unfortunately, the Phonaks didn’t use batteries. At least the ones from Costco (KS10). So I do the stupid nightly charging. I much prefer carrying a couple spare batteries around and that the batteries lasted days (albeit the previous KS7’s didn’t have much of any streaming capability or I didn’t use it) instead of my current usage of a day or so. Takes a moment to swap batteries and away you go wherever you are. Way better in my opinion.

In reply to @OcramSagev

This site is primarily a Phonak site. Followed by Oticon and Costco.

After you have the rest.

Starkey is an outlier. I have no problem with that.

I would love for Abram to set up a conference with Starkey like he did Phonak.

He should do it with all of the manufacturers.

I’m on my 5th set of hearing aids (Jabra 30s) and my second set of rechargeable. I greatly prefer disposable batteries, but the improved Hear in Noise function of the Jabra 30s (only) come with the rechargeable version.

I kept my Jabra 20s that use disposable #13 batteries as a backups in large part for this reason. They will go about 12 days on a fresh set of batteries. (And of course are stored without batteries.)

I now wish I had tried a set of Jabra 30s with disposable batteries to judge the difference myself. The Hear in Noise function is not as important to me as it seems to be for many others - and is only used two or three times per month.

My understanding is that unfortunately disposable batteries don’t provide the power that modern hearing aids require and they also limit the ability to meet IP68 standards. Hence the move to rechargable hearing aids with much shorter battery life but sealed and able to deliver more power.

In reply to @cvkemp

I have a Noco GB40 Boost Plus jumper battery for my Kia Niro plugin car. This has USB for both charging input and output. Assuming your charger uses a USB power supply, a jumper like this would charge your HA’s for many days.

Wanted by customers.

I offer every single patient the option to go with traditional batteries. I offer the two options neutrally. It has gotten to the point where half the time when I ask “traditional battery or rechargeable” they look at me like I’m crazy for even asking because who wouldn’t get rechargeables.

Experienced users who are used to traditional batteries consider more before largely switching to rechargeables, with a few hold-outs. People who want very small devices go with traditional batteries but are often grumpy about it.

In reply to @Neville

@Neville said:

Experienced users who are used to traditional batteries consider more before largely switching to rechargeables, with a few hold-outs.

So experienced users, who know that disposable hearing aid batteries are much cheaper and last much longer than a new user would expect by analogy with alkalines, don’t leap at the chance to get rechargeables. And it’s not as if you’re able to offer them disposable-battery aids functionally equal to rechargeables on the market now.

@nordo said:

My understanding is that unfortunately disposable batteries don’t provide the power that modern AI hearing aids require and they also limit the ability to meet IP68 standards. Hence the move to rechargable hearing aids with much shorter battery life but sealed and able to deliver more power.

When implant makers needed high-power 675 disposable batteries to power their devices, battery manufacturers were able to oblige them. Implant-type 675’s might be able to power higher-function aids that regular batteries can’t power. Maybe it would even be possible to design high-power 13’s or 312’s with adequate battery life, if hearing aid makers asked for them.

The user manual for my current aids (Oticon Real) states IP68 water and dust resistance for both rechargeable and traditional battery models, but that rating excludes the battery compartment in traditional models. So you have to dry them out and replace the battery if they get wet, but they shouldn’t be damaged.

I have begun using a rechargeable (Phonak) only recently, after being with batteries for five decades or so. Not ever going back now to batteries that always ran out on inconvenient moments. My HAs recharge mid-day when I go for a nap, but I understand the “range anxiety” for people who work long days. With its latest models (the Sphere), Phonak has listened to its user base. These HAs have a really beefy battery. Problem solved, imho.

In reply to @x475aws

They’re not really cheaper.

They do last longer if there’s no dirt/moisture bottleneck for a particular patient, and I tell patients that. They still pick rechargeable.

With maybe the exception of the sphere, the features supported by rechargeable batteries are still pretty negligible IMHO. But usually users have selected rechargable before we even talk about those features.

In reply to @djonbrody

@djonbrody said:

I have a pair of Signia IX, I can get 30 hrs of use on one recharge. I recharge every night, it has never been a problem.

I have the Pure Charge&Go 7 T IX and can easily get 30 hours while streaming TV or Kindle Fire probably 50% of my day. I top them up most nights the charger seems a safe place for them to be.

In reply to @Neville

@Neville said:

They’re not really cheaper.

Disposable hearing aid batteries are cheaper and last longer than new hearing users would expect, based on their experience with disposable non-hearing-aid batteries, mainly alkalines. Total lifecycle cost of disposable battery vs. rechargeable hearing aids is a different subject. But that comparison can come out in favor of disposables also, depending.

@Neville said:

But usually users have selected rechargable before we even talk about those features.

But this isn’t true for experienced hearing aid users, if I understand what you wrote yesterday.

Related discussions