Should FDA mandate manufacturers produce hearing aids with disposable batteries?

Like the government could make things better? USA here, good luck with that.

The market will decide. Best to keep the government out of it.

As was discussed here last October, rechargeable aids apparently get a pass on complying with some ANSI spec sheet requirements:

https://forum.hearingtracker.com/t/is-the-hearing-aid-industry-pushing-rechargeables-and-making-disposables-less-accessible/71622/286?u=x475aws (member archive)

Absolutely! I hate the ‘rechargeable battery’ hearing aids. The only way one can be assured of constantly operating aids is with replaceable batteries. Rechargeable aids when using streaming music and heavy amplification (as my major hearing loss requires) go dead within 9 to 11 hours. I source aids with top notch features, am willing to pay what ever they must cost.

@stevemink said:

Should at some point rechargeable batteries be improved to the level they can stay fully charged for one week, the above aid/battery production guidelines can be eliminated.

If I could give you FIVE thumbs-up here, I’d DO IT! I am so in agreement with you. Surveys tell us that “most folks use rechargeable aids now” but never ask, “Which would YOU rather have: battery or rechargeable?” in any survey. DOH.

I just returned from a 2+ week trip to see family and travel on the road. It was the usual BOONDOGGLE of trying to find an outlet for my BIG OL’ CLUNKY Phonak recharging base everywhere I went. I would SO love to camp, backpack and do stuff in nature for longer than a day or two, but I have few truly reliable options. Yes, I could lug battery packs and inverters for my charging base, but why not just slip a pack of orange-tab batteries in my pocket and get ON with it?

We are simply not getting the options we should be here. It’s like car makers only selling giant SUVs so they can make more money. Folks like smaller cars, too. And I would definitely have bought a battery-operated version of the Lumity Life (NOT waterproof, but excellent speech enhancer) aids if it was available.

We’re crying to the choir here, but hope always springs eternal. There HAS to be a resolution to rechargeable aids that (for me) last no more than 17 hrs with a charge and require a plug, adapter (if overseas) and yada yada to keep one’s ears functioning. I have zero margin for no aids being in. I have to wear whatever is on the market, even if it comes to aids that require a humongous battery in a wheelbarrow strapped to my waist to power the aids.

Are battery lovers okay with paying more for those aids then
with rechargeable aids?
Right now 80% of all aids sold are rechargeable. If manufacturers MUST make battery aids for the 20% (and shrinking every year) as well as make rechargeables then it will obviously cost more for the manufacturers to recoup costs and turn a profit with the battery aids so they should cost more, otherwise those of us that prefer rechargeables will be subsidizing battery users costs.

When I first was given rechargeable hearing aid I wasn’t that happy but now that I have been using them for about 4 years there is no way I would go back to disposable batteries.

Like I’ve said in my posts regarding Phonak and (possible death) of disposable batteries and now “Red Flag” to FDA to get on the stick and save HA that use disposable batteries. There are pros and con to both rechargeable and disposable batteries.

But many comments on HT are so “WEAK” regarding various reasons not to use disposable batteries.

Mr. Smithster feels it will cost HA manufacturers more to continue to make HA with disposable batteries, when from day one when HA’s came out in 1930’s/1940’s they used (guess what) disposable batteries. There is zero price difference in making aids for rechargeable or disposable battery. ZERO. But there is a huge price difference when buying faulty battery chargers and costly rechargeable batteries, over two/three year supply of disposable batteries.

Last I checked landfills were not overflowing with HA batteries. Hardly. Yet grocery stores still bag groceries with plastic bags that choke birds and turtles.

Power outages are increasing coast to coast (think Texas) and air travel has become a nightmare. So when you’re at the airport for X or XX amount of hours do you first recharge your phone or your HA batteries? See with disposable batteries you have peace of mind where with rechargeable you have “STRESS” since with ever click of the clock a rechargeable battery weakens. Quickly. But heck let’s force those with mid to profound hearing losses to use rechargeable batteries and increase their stress. As if folks with significant hearing loss don’t have enough stress in their life.

Then we have a few that claim your local drug store will run out of HA batteries before aspirin and hair shampoo. Gee - don’t think so.

I could go on and on but we should live in a world where someone buying an OTC aid for say $300, or a $2500 HA through dealer, has the god given right to buy an aid with disposable batteries or rechargeable. Not one or the other.

@stevemink said:

the god given right to buy an aid with disposable batteries or rechargeable.

Great satire, thanks for the laugh! Seriously though, could you get him to improve his priorities? For example, whenever we try to log into this or that and it doesn’t work, the explanation is that either the username or password is incorrect. SOMEBODY knows which it is, and we should have the right to be told.

@jeffrey said:

my rechargeable aids come with a power pack carrying case that weighs about three ounces, is half the size of a tennis ball, and holds three full charges equaling 6-7 days of use.

I have the charging base (and power cord to plug it in), but rarely take trips of just 2-3 days. Mine last 2+ weeks or even a few months. So I absolutely need the base, the power cord and a verrrrrry reliable, accessible source of power to plug that into.

Last fall I had problems with my aids lasting more than 11 hrs. I didn’t know if the prob was the aids or the charging base. Turns out it was the OS on my Android phone. But the whole game is more complex now. With just aids + battery, you can quickly test either one and get a definitive answer for what needs fixing or replacing. Dead battery? Change it. Aid not working? Send it in.

I ended up taking in the whole shebang of aids + charging base and getting the aids sent in to Phonak with a replacement charging base given to me “just in case that was the prob” as per the Phonak rep at my audi’s office.

With my hearing loss, I’m gonna drain a pair of charged-up aids MUCH faster than the ordinary Joe. Toss in some streaming TV at night or music while I’m cleaning house, and I’m gonna have to charge my aids up in way WAY less than 24 hrs. I can’t even go ONE single day without a chargeup.

I’ve lived in earthquake country, and now am in hurricane country. World is going to he!! in a handbasket, and so it niggles me that I will need to plug my charger in and charge up my aids before the day is out - no matter if Martians land. It has to be done. With batteries, I’d travel with a month’s supply, could camp for a week in the wilderness and no prob.

I guess that is the “old” normal that I miss. No going back to it unless rechargeables can give us MORE DAYS (not hours) of use.

We need better, longer life rechargeable batteries and they need to be EASILY replaceable when they die. Until then we need the option of going a week instead of a day! Right now that’s only available with disposable batteries.

Exactly - but it appears HA manufactures are going after “volume” as far as selling aids and telling those who like and prefer disposable batteries to join Dodo bird. That to me is one - insulting and two - in violation of basic code of ethics. From a medical hearing standpoint.