Hearing Aid Batteries: Sizes, Colors, Runtime and Who Pays

Hearing aid battery sizes and colors, as two makers write them

Non-rechargeable hearing aids run on zinc-air button cells. Widex writes that all its non-rechargeable devices use them and that its batteries are coded with a number and a color. The two makers read for this page give the same color to each size, and Phonak's table adds the IEC and ANSI codes printed on packs:

• Size 10: yellow; IEC PR70, ANSI 7005ZD.
• Size 312: brown; IEC PR41, ANSI 7002ZD.
• Size 13: orange; IEC PR48, ANSI 7000ZD.
• Size 675: blue; IEC PR44, ANSI 7003ZD.

The hearing aid model decides the size. In Phonak's table, the Terra+ RIC-312 takes size 312, the Terra+ BTE-SP size 13, the Terra+ BTE-UP size 675 and the Virto I-Titanium size 10. Widex tells wearers to check the device instructions for the color they need.

No source on this page compares brands of cells, so we name none as a pick. The criteria you can check yourself are the size, the codes on the pack, and the runtime your hearing aid's maker states for your model.

How long do hearing aid batteries last? Hours, capacity by size and shelf life

Oticon writes that actual battery life depends on battery quality, use pattern, active feature set, hearing loss and sound environment, so the figures that exist are tied to a named model. Its technical data sheet for the Opn S miniRITE, which takes a size 312 cell, gives an expected life in hours for each speaker:

• Speaker 60: 60 to 65 hours.
• Speaker 85: 55 to 65 hours.
• Speaker 100: 50 to 65 hours.
• Speaker 105: 45 to 65 hours.

Oticon presents these as real-usage estimates, built on a mix of use that includes direct streaming from a TV 25% of the time and from a mobile phone 6% of the time. The sheet gives hours, not days: how many days a cell lasts turns on your own hours of wear and streaming, which no sheet can know.

How many hours a size 10, 312, 13 or 675 battery lasts

Rayovac declines to give one number: it writes that battery life is determined by the type and amplification of your hearing aid, as well as the hours you wear it. What the battery makers do print is capacity. Energizer's datasheets, which we read on November 7, 2026, give a typical capacity for each zinc-air size, measured under the IEC standard test drain printed on each sheet:

• Size 10 (yellow tab): 83 mAh (Energizer datasheet).
• Size 312 (brown tab): 180 mAh (Energizer datasheet).
• Size 13 (orange tab): 273 mAh (Energizer datasheet).
• Size 675 (blue tab): 555 mAh (Energizer datasheet).

A larger cell holds more charge, so in the same aid it runs longer, but capacity is a lab figure, not hours of wear: the only hours we found for a named aid are Oticon's above, for a size 312 cell.

Shelf life and when to change the battery

Sealed cells keep for years. Energizer writes that its hearing aid batteries hold power for up to 4 years in storage, and Rayovac gives its own cells a 4 year shelf life; Rayovac adds not to remove the tab until you are ready to use the battery, and to check the expiration date on the pack.

A cell can also run down before it is used. Widex writes that once the label is removed, its batteries start to lose power and are exhausted after 4 weeks or so, even if the hearing aid isn't used in that time. Our page on how long hearing aids last deals with the aids themselves.

To know when to change it, the aid's own guide is the reference. In Widex's user instructions for its A52-FA and A52-FP behind-the-ear models, a sound signal plays when the battery is flat, though a battery that drains suddenly may give no warning, which is why Widex recommends carrying a spare battery.

How to dispose of hearing aid batteries

Hearing aid cells are button cells, and EPA's battery guidance is plain: do not put button-cell, coin or lithium single-use batteries in the trash or municipal recycling bins. EPA writes that they can be brought to specialized battery recyclers, participating retailers that provide battery takeback services, or local household hazardous waste collection programs. For an aid whose rechargeable battery cannot be removed, EPA writes that entire devices can be brought to certified electronics recyclers. State rules can be stricter: California's CalRecycle lists all batteries, button cells included, rechargeable or single-use, among items banned from the trash.

Rechargeable or disposable: what the VA bought in categories 1-2

The VA's procurement report counts the hearing aids it bought from October 2025 to September 2026 by style and category. Category 1 is non-rechargeable and category 2 rechargeable; among aids filed in those two categories:

• Receiver in canal (RIC): 266,505 rechargeable and 16,257 non-rechargeable, or 94.3% rechargeable.
• Custom (CHA): 147,256 against 13,086, or 91.8%.
• Behind the ear (BTE): 7,316 against 6,962, or 51.2%.

Aids filed under the other categories, such as multiple processors, are not counted here, so these shares describe categories 1-2 only, not every aid the VA bought. They are whole hearing aids bought under federal contracts, not batteries, and not a market share outside the VA. Within categories 1-2, more than nine aids in ten were rechargeable in two styles out of three, while behind-the-ear purchases split close to evenly. What a rechargeable model costs over a disposable one, and how long its built-in battery lasts, is set out on our rechargeable hearing aids page.

What Medicaid paid under the battery code V5266

Batteries billed to a payer go under their own HCPCS code, V5266, "battery for use in hearing device". In Medicaid's national claims, lines under that code fell every year after 2019, from 169,478 that year to 81,061 in 2024, a year whose data are still preliminary. Paid per line stayed between $18.86 in 2018 and $22.31 in 2021. Over 2023 and 2024 together, 281 billing providers filed 189,068 lines for $21.78 per line, and the largest of them received 13.8% of the money paid.

A line is not one battery: the number of units on a line varies, and so does what a unit means from one state to another, so no figure here is a price per cell. The table above gives every year. Other hearing devices have battery codes of their own: the same CMS file lists L8621, a zinc-air battery for cochlear implant devices and auditory osseointegrated sound processors, and L8624, a lithium-ion battery for ear-level processors. Our cochlear implant processor page covers those devices, and accessories other than batteries are billed under the codes set out on our hearing aid accessories page.

Buying and paying for hearing aid batteries

For veterans, VA writes that if hearing aids are recommended and fit, the aids, repairs and future batteries all come at no charge, as long as VA eligibility for care is maintained. Replacement batteries are ordered with VA Form VA2346a, on paper or through VA's online tool; our VA hearing aids page covers who qualifies.

For everyone else, IRS Publication 502 lets you include in medical expenses the cost of a hearing aid and the batteries, repairs and maintenance needed to operate it. Whether that lowers your tax depends on itemizing, explained on our tax deduction page; an FSA or HSA follows its own plan rules, covered on our FSA page.

Before buying, match the size number and color on the pack to the size your hearing aid's guide names, and leave packs sealed until use, since Widex writes that an unsealed cell runs down within weeks.