What Are the Best Rechargeable Hearing Aids?

When you’re diagnosed with hearing loss, fitting some hearing aids is likely to be the most effective response to it. Your audiologist will help you pick out hearing aids from a wide range, specifically suited to all kinds of needs. Most hearing aids are powered by batteries, which you will have to change when they run out. However, more and more hearing aid manufactures are creating rechargeable hearing aids with no need for batteries at all.

Rechargeable hearing aids or rechargeable hearing aid batteries?

You may have used devices that run on rechargeable batteries, that can be taken out of the device and charged. That is not what rechargeable hearing aids are. Instead, rechargeable hearing aids have built-in batteries that you do not have to remove on a regular basis. You don’t use a battery charger to supply them with power, but rather you dock the hearing aids directly into a charging unit. Then, the charging unit is plugged into your wall, much like how charging a smartphone would work.

This is different from simply doing to your local store and buying rechargeable hearing aid batteries. First of all, finding rechargeable button batteries that are of the right size to fit your hearing aids may be difficult. Even if you find the right batteries, you also then need to find the right charging station that the batteries can fit into. As such, it’s often recommended you look for a rechargeable hearing aid, instead of rechargeable batteries. Simply tell your audiologist what you’re looking for and they can help you scan the market to find it.

Why choose rechargeable hearing aids?

There are a wide variety of advantages of using rechargeable hearing aids. Here are just a few worth considering:

• They could be better for those with dexterity issues: If you have trouble dealing with the battery port of the average non-chargeable hearing aid, then a chargeable one is much easier to handle, giving you less to worry about. You don’t have to open up and take out the tiny batteries, you can simply slot the device into the charging dock.
• Bigger battery capacity: Most modern rechargeable hearing aids use lithium-ion batteries, which hold a greater charge than the average battery and can last for around five years before they need to be replaced, a significant improvement on past generations. Compared to hearing aids that use regular or rechargeable batteries, which have to be changed or charged after a maximum of a few weeks, and that’s a significant improvement.
• Safer to keep in the household: If you live with kids, then you might be concerned about then getting access to hearing aid batteries. As small as they are, these button batteries can be a choking hazard if accidentally swallowed by pets or children, which does occasionally happen. Because rechargeable hearing aids don’t have removable batteries, this is no longer a risk to be concerned with.

The above advantages do come with some drawbacks, of course. A charging unit will add to the cost, though the eventual cost of buying the equivalent amount of batteries often outweighs the rise in price. Otherwise, you have to get used to depending on a charging unit and you also cannot take out the batteries so, if a problem occurs with the device and you think the batteries might be the cause, you should instead enlist the help of your audiologist.

So, what should you look for in the best rechargeable hearing aids?

When choosing hearing aids, it’s best to do it with the help of an audiologist, who can help you find the best hearing aids to suit your needs. As such, if you can find a hearing aid that has all the features that you require and is also rechargeable, then you go for it if it’s in your budget. However, it may not be worth sacrificing other important features, such as a directional microphone or Bluetooth capabilities, for a rechargeable hearing aid if you can’t fit them all in your budget.

Choose the perfect hearing aids for you with Gavin Audiologist and Hearing Aids

To find out which rechargeable hearing aids are the best, you need to talk about your needs with your audiologist and figure out what your priorities should be together. Take a look around the site and give our team a call at (914) 610-3440 if you want to learn more about our services and find the best rechargeable hearing aids to meet all of your needs.