Here is an interesting video on hearing aid battery life. For his eighth grade science project, Ethan tested the effect of letting hearing aid batteries sit idle after removing the sticker prior to placing them in the hearing aid. In his test, he showed that there could be up to an 85% increase in battery life given the stickers were taken off and one waited 5 minutes before putting them in the hearing aids. In the real world, this translates to roughly 1-2 days longer battery life.
Why does this happen? Well hearing aid batteries are zinc air cells, and the sticker is keeping the air from entering the battery. Once the sticker is removed, the air flow in to the battery (through the tiny holes underneath the stickers) activates the battery. According to his study, Ethan found that it takes 5 minutes for the batteries to power up to full capacity. If you put the hearing aid battery in the hearing aid before this, it reduces the batteries ability to reach it’s maximum capacity, therefore reducing the battery life.
Therefore, it is very important to let your hearing aid batteries sit for several minutes prior to inserting them into the hearing aid to maximize their battery life.
