- Hi guys, Cliff Olson,
doctor of audiology and founder of Applied Hearing Solutions
in Phoenix, Arizona.
And in this video,
I'm talking about the benefits
of rechargeable hearing aid technology
and why most hearing aid users are starting
to ditch their disposable battery hearing aids, coming up.
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It is no secret that rechargeable hearing aids are becoming
much more popular among hearing aid users.
In my clinic, for instance,
rechargeable hearing aids now account
for over 50% of hearing aids dispensed.
But it didn't always used to be this way.
Rechargeable battery technology has been around for a while,
but there's two big limitations
when it comes to hearing aids.
Number one, these batteries were just way too big
to be placed inside of hearing aids.
And when they eventually got the size of these batteries
down to a point where you could put them inside
of a hearing aid,
they wouldn't even power a hearing aid all day long,
which is obviously a necessity
for someone with hearing loss.
Zinc Air Button Batteries have always dominated
the hearing aid space
because half of the chemical compound comes
from the oxygen that we breathe
that mixes in with the zinc compound
inside of the button cell,
which means that these batteries are incredibly small
and long lasting.
But these disposable batteries
are not without their drawbacks,
and there are a lot of them.
First of all, these button cell batteries
can be extremely dangerous.
According to the American Association
of Poison Control Centers,
there are approximately 3,500 negative incidents
involving children and pets.
They are also incredibly bad for the environment
since you throw away up to 800 dead button cell batteries
over the course of an average hearing aid lifespan,
and all of these batteries end up in a landfill.
These batteries can be extremely hard to change
for individuals with poor finger dexterity.
These batteries can go out in the worst possible moment.
And having a battery door that opens
and closes is just another area for debris and moisture
to enter a hearing aid.
Now earlier versions
of rechargeable hearing aid batteries came in the form
of nickel-metal hydride technology
and silver zinc technology,
both of which had their problems.
One of them just didn't give you a very long battery life,
and the other one had extreme reliability issues.
Then along came lithium-ion rechargeable battery technology,
which completely changed the landscape
of the hearing aid industry.
But before I get into why rechargeable hearing aids
are increasing so much in popularity,
if you could do me a huge favor and click the like button,
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With that out of the way, I really appreciate it
and a big thank you to Phonak, today's video sponsor,
but more on them in a little bit.
First, let's take a look
at why rechargeable hearing aids are becoming so popular.
When the first lithium-ion hearing aids came out,
it was the first time
that we could have all-day battery life
on just a short three-hour charge.
This meant that you could wake up in the morning,
take your hearing aids out of the charger,
put them in your ears,
wear them for an entire day without having to worry
if your batteries were going to die on you.
Lithium batteries are also very quick to charge.
Now I already mentioned
that a three-hour charge could get you battery life
for an entire day.
But if you happen to run low on your battery
or you forget to charge them,
just putting them back into your charger
for 15 minutes will typically give you
an additional three hours of battery life.
Most of these lithium batteries could also last you
for multiple years as opposed to other forms
of rechargeable battery technology
that will typically start dying after one year.
Rechargeable technology also means that you can throw away
the magnet tool that you would typically use
to change your disposable batteries
because there is no battery to change anymore.
You just take the hearing aids,
put them in your charger at night,
take them out in the morning,
and you're good to go.
Not to mention the convenience factor,
I mean, pretty much everybody has a cellphone
or a smartphone nowadays
that you need to plug in at night to charge it up.
Well, when you do that,
all you do at the same time is plug in your hearing aids.
With this increased battery life, reliability,
and convenience, it is no surprise
that lithium battery technology is becoming
much more of the norm inside of the hearing aid industry.
And this is exactly why Phonak, today's video sponsor,
is tripling down on the development
of their rechargeable hearing aid lineup.
Phonak released the first lithium battery hearing aid
back in 2016 with the Phonak Audeo Belong.
And since then, they've released
the Phonak Marvel rechargeable,
the Phonak Paradise rechargeable,
and the Phonak Life rechargeable hearing aids.
Over the past six years, the adoption rates
for these rechargeable hearing aids
has significantly increased
and now account for approximately 75%
of all Phonak hearing aids dispensed.
According to Phonak,
their newer rechargeable battery technology is 40%
more reliable than their previous generation
disposable battery technology,
and hearing aid users are 30% more satisfied
with rechargeable hearing aids
than they are with disposable battery hearing aids.
Well, a big reason for this increased adoption
and satisfaction is definitely due to all the benefits
that I mentioned of rechargeable technology
a little bit earlier,
but it also has to do
with all the additional features that you get
inside of a rechargeable battery hearing aid as well.
One of these additional features is the use
of a motion sensor inside
of a rechargeable Phonak hearing aid.
The motion sensor allows the hearing aid to identify
if you are moving around or if you are sitting still,
which helps the hearing aid identify
which program settings would be more ideal
for those situations.
However, this motion sensor also gives you access
to one of my personal favorite features,
which is the Double Tap feature.
The Double Tap feature allows you
to simply double tap your ear to answer or end phone calls,
to double tap your ear to pause and start streaming
from your smart device,
and to double tap your ear
if you want to activate your voice assistant.
Another feature that is available
for a rechargeable Phonak hearing aid
is the ActiveVent receiver.
An ActiveVent receiver allows you to reap
all of the benefits from an open-vented hearing aid
for use in most situations,
but it also allows you to close the vent
of that hearing aid
if you wanna get better stream quality of music
or if you wanna hear better in a background noise situation.
I believe that the ActiveVent receiver is one
of the biggest innovations
inside of the hearing aid industry
since the release of the first lithium-ion hearing aid.
Now if you wanna learn more about the ActiveVent receiver,
I have a review of that particular receiver
in the description below.
This use of rechargeable lithium-ion battery technology
has also led to the development of the Phonak Slim
and Phonak Audeo Fit hearing aids,
which now gives Phonak four different
rechargeable hearing aid options.
All signs point towards lithium battery technology becoming
the new norm inside of the hearing aid industry,
taking the title away from disposable battery hearing aids
that have completely dominated
the hearing aid space for decades.
At this point, hearing aid manufacturers can do way more
with the rechargeable battery hearing aid
than they can with the disposable battery hearing aid.
And given the mainstream acceptance
of lithium-ion rechargeable battery technology
in other industries,
such as consumer electronics and electric vehicles,
we have every reason to believe that the future
of hearing aids is going to be with rechargeable batteries.
So if you're still currently using
a disposable battery hearing aid as you watch this video,
I just want you to prepare yourself because that may be
the very last disposable battery hearing aid
that you ever use.
That's it for this video.
If you have any questions,
leave them in the comment section below.
If you like the video, please share it.
And if you wanna see other videos just like this one,
go ahead and hit that subscribe button.
Also, feel free to check on my website, drcliffaud.com.
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