Hearing Aid Battery Life

[Echo]

I'm sure this topic has been discussed before but I'd appreciate hearing some current stats on battery life.  I wear my Phonak BiCros every day pretty much from 7:30 a.m. till 10:30 p.m.   My Phonak is 2 years old and each night I clean them and leave the battery compartment completely open.  I do not use the Bluetooth function.  I am averaging 2 1/2 to 3 days out of each pair of batteries the 312's.  I normally purchase them at Costco and when I was buying more today I commented to the sales rep that I wished they lasted longer.  She was insistent that on a Kirkland brand 312 battery I should be getting 5 to 7 days out of each pair of batteries using Phonak hearing aids.  To my knowledge nobody gets that kind of life out of these tiny batteries.  Am I right or wrong?  Does the BiCros drain the battery quicket than a normal hearing aid?

Thanks, Cathie

[arizonajack]

I'm sure this topic has been discussed before but I'd appreciate hearing some current stats on battery life.  I wear my Phonak BiCros every day pretty much from 7:30 a.m. till 10:30 p.m.   My Phonak is 2 years old and each night I clean them and leave the battery compartment completely open.  I do not use the Bluetooth function.  I am averaging 2 1/2 to 3 days out of each pair of batteries the 312's.

You might recall my Great American Unscientific Informal Hearing Aid Battery Life Comparison Experiment from last July where I tested Power One batteries in my old CROS and Audeo (3 years at the time) and my new CROS II and Audeo.

Your 13 hours per day us was about the same amount of time each day that I ran the test and the Power One batteries quit on the 4th day after operating the old hearing aids for 44 hours and 45 minutes.

I normally purchase them at Costco and when I was buying more today I commented to the sales rep that I wished they lasted longer.  She was insistent that on a Kirkland brand 312 battery I should be getting 5 to 7 days out of each pair of batteries using Phonak hearing aids.  To my knowledge nobody gets that kind of life out of these tiny batteries.  Am I right or wrong?  Does the BiCros drain the battery quicket than a normal hearing aid?

You're right. She lied. I don't think anybody's getting 5-7 days out of those batteries when they wear the hearing aids continuously throughout the day. And I'm thinking there's no reason you shouldn't get 40+ hours like I did.

[Echo]

Thanks Jack, now that you mention it I do remember your Great American Unscientific Test Report.  I was pretty sure there was nothing unusual about the battery life I'm experiencing.  I'd still be interested in hearing from others on their experience as well.

Cathie.

[jaylogs]

On my Ponto I get about 10 days...pretty good.  They use 13's....
Jay

[PaulW]

I looked up the specs of the batteries and a 312 has about 150mah capacity
Versus the larger 13 which has 290mah.
So a 13 should last nearly twice as long... But it normally lives in a bigger hearing aid too.

Apparently battery life depends on a lot of things including the environment you are in, your hearing aide settings how much boost you need and electronics. I have recently started wearing a hearing aid in my AN ear, as I have lost some high frequencies. I get 5-7 days out of a no10 hearing aid battery which has 100mah capacity. If I am locked in my office for a week the hearing aid  battery lasts 7 days. If I am continually in a loud environment I am lucky to get 3 days... Eg some conference where people are always talking followed by noisy lunches, dinners, breaks  and then bar activities to all hours. I typically wear my hearing aid 6:00am - 11:00pm.

[Kristena]

I wear my Cochlear BAHA pretty much all day, every day, and I also get about a week out of my 13s. Does anyone else think that taking them out at night will add some time (was that part of the GAU Experiment  )? I do let a new battery"breathe" for about 5 minutes before installing it.

[PaulW]

Letting the battery breathe unfortunately does nothing... It will breathe just fine inside the hearing aid as well.
Its an urban myth
It is true that the battery voltage will increase in the first few minutes after the tab has been removed and the air gets in and the chemical reaction starts.
It wont change the battery life. If anything you will probably get about 30 secs more battery life, if you use it straight away, rather than waiting 5 min.
The moment you remove the tab and the air gets in the battery is beginning to go flat.

[Echo]

Paul, thanks for the interesting response.  I didn't realize there were so many things that could contribute to the length of time the batteries function.  I just moved from a very noisy area to a quieter one at work, so I'll see if I notice any change.  Doesn't sound like there's anything I can do to make the batteries last longer - I've been doing everything the audiologist recommended.

Cathie

[PaulW]

I had my noise cancelling setting changed to be more aggressive and subjectively my battery life went up by about 1/2 a day.

[Echo]

I called my audiologist today and she told me that I am getting the maximum use out of the 312 batteries based on her knowledge and experience.  She explained the BiCros uses substantially more battery power than a standard hearing aid because the receiver unit is constantly talking to the hearing aid unit as it passes the sound info over.  If I were wearing two regular Phonak hearing aids I would definitely get more battery life.   She also said the new Phonak BiCros battery life is substantially better than my 2 year old model - Arizona Jack already confirmed that detail with his test report.  I probably won't be replacing my BiCros for another 3 years, so here's hoping there's even more improvement! 

[Kristena]

After 18 mos with my Baha, recently my battery suddenly died, so I replaced it even though I knew I had just installed it a couple days earlier. Then on the first day, the new battery died, but before I could remove my Baha, it started up again! So I left it in, and it continued randomly quitting and starting for the afternoon. I called Baha, and they had me send it in for repair. The first day I received my Baha back, it started doing the same thing again. So I called back, and she asked what type of batteries I was using. I said, "usually Energizer" and she said they recommend Rayovac and would send me a couple packs. Well, I actually received PowerOne, and so far so good. I'd never heard of them before! Are they expensive or hard to find?

[CHD63]

Hi Kristena .....

Both my husband and I get Power One batteries from Amazon and have had great luck with them.  I have not looked locally to see if anywhere near me carries them.

Clarice

[arizonajack]

 Well, I actually received PowerOne, and so far so good. I'd never heard of them before! Are they expensive or hard to find?

I've been using the Power One batteries going on 4 years now. They are equal in quality with other brands, reasonably priced and you can find them on Amazon and eBay in large quantities at low prices. Even Costco has good deals on large quantities.