Hearing aid batteries

In the past, mercury zinc batteries were the most common type of hearing aid battery. But now zinc-air batteries are more popular – this is because they’re more eco-friendly and they maintain a constant voltage.

A zinc-air hearing aid battery works like this:

• Small holes in the battery’s surface allow air to penetrate it.
• The air reacts with the zinc inside the battery, producing zinc oxide.
• This reaction creates the battery’s energy.

This explains why the holes in hearing aid batteries are sealed with special protective foil before you use them! Before you insert a battery into your hearing aid, you need to remove this protective foil. Since the battery only begins to work once the foil is removed, it may take a moment for the power to reach your hearing aid.

Once you’ve removed the protective foil from the battery, it begins to create energy, and there’s no way to stop it! So make sure you only remove it when you’re ready to put the battery in your hearing aid.

Just like regular batteries, you can get different brands of hearing aid batteries, and they come in different sizes too.

Behind-the-ear (BTE) hearing aids usually take size 13 and 312 batteries, while in-the-ear (ITE) hearing aids usually use size 312 or 10 batteries.

When you’re fitted with your hearing aid, your Hearing Aid Audiologist will make a note of what size batteries you need.

If you can’t remember what size batteries your hearing aid needs, you can pop into your local Boots Hearingcare store for advice or call our friendly Customer Care team on 01 5060164

The first step is to remove the protective foil from the batteries. It takes around two minutes after this for your battery to reach full power, so you might choose to wait before you insert them into your hearing aids. Make sure you insert the batteries with the minus and plus sides the right way round. If you find that the battery compartment won’t close, or is difficult to close, it’s usually because you’ve got the plus and minus back to front!

If your hearing aid doesn’t seem to be working even after you’ve fitted the new battery, try checking that there’s no contamination in the battery compartment, as this can interfere with the connection. You could also try a different battery in case it’s a manufacturing problem.

Batteries should be stored at room temperature, at around 10-25°C. Make sure you keep them out of reach of children.

As soon as your hearing aid batteries run out, remove them from your hearing aid just in case they start leaking or expanding.

You shouldn’t throw used batteries away with normal rubbish or recycling: instead, take them to your local battery recycling point (you’ll often find these at supermarkets).