22/02/2010 by John Lloyd.

There are two issues here. 1. Raising awareness to the new mercury free batteries now being supplied by Rayovac, and 2. Ethical disposal of your hearing aid batteries.

Most batteries have until now contained some level of mercury within them, which means that careless disposal of these batteries will eventually lead to the mercury being leaked into the soil. This mercury then gets into our water and food chain and is ingested by us all! Mercury is a highly toxic substance which damages the brain, kidneys and lungs. Symptoms ironically can include hearing impairment; so a viscous cycle for those who have a hearing loss and who don’t consider the implications of where they discard their batteries!

Rayovac now supply mercury free hearing aid batteries which after considerable development are now providing equivalent lifespan of the mercury batteries. It is in the interest of us ALL to use products that DON’T contain mercury, but as with everything these new batteries are slightly more expensive due to the development costs involved.

At Crystal Hearing we already offer a price on our batteries that is barely profitable so we cannot bear this additional cost.

We can supply ‘Rayovac Mercury Free Extra Advanced’ batteries in all sizes for a discount price of £18 per 60 cells

(Click here for the Rayovac website)

There is a new European Batteries Directive being implemented from the 1st February that requires the UK to recycle 25% of portable batteries by 2012. So please help us to do our bit and either dispose of your batteries at your local tip (or any other appropriate recycling point) or if you cannot do this then please save them in a pot/bag and give them to your dispenser so he/she can dispose of them accordingly.

Click here for the our other Hearing Aid Batteries web page.

Crystal Hearing

Discount Hearing

Posted in maintenance, Accessories, Blogroll | 1 Comment »

28/07/2009 by John Lloyd.

For use with the latest Bluetooth Hearing Aids, I recommend the Siemens Gigaset SL565 DECT phone.

(DECT = Digitally Enhanced Cordless Telephone)

Also recommended by Channel 5’s ‘The Gadget Show’ - read their review here

Posted in Siemens, Accessories, Blogroll | 2 Comments »

25/07/2009 by John Lloyd.

Special offer for all subscribers to this blog

Hearing aid batteries for only £1.60 per pack!

Email your orders at info@crystalhearinguk.co.uk

Batteries suppled in boxes of 10 packs for £16

Batteries supplied will be Rayovac Extra for best performance.

Payment by internet transfer, cheque or debit card.

Thank you for your participation

Affiliated to Digital Hearing Care

Posted in Accessories, Blogroll | No Comments »

25/07/2009 by John Lloyd.

Here is a new hearing seminar video by Phonak about their Bluetooth wireless hearing aid accessories.

http://www.hearingseminars.com/dwajune09

 To understand more about ‘Bluetooth’ click these link:

Wikipedia definition

Crystal Hearing Bluetooth Page

Digital Hearing Aids

Affiliated to Digtial Hearing Care

Posted in Accessories, Phonak, Hearing Aids, Blogroll | No Comments »

14/06/2009 by John Lloyd.

Here’s a great new development from Phonak I feel you should all know about - The click-and-talk is a device that has been created to work in unison with Sony Ericsson mobile phones and is a simple plug-in adapter which operates similar to the Phonak ‘duo-phone’ feature; i.e. when the phone is held close to the hearing aid (within 25cm) the adaptor triggers a programme switch in the hearing aid (utilising the Bluetooth/headset programme) and simultaneously sends the audio signal to the other ear - so the user now gets binaural listening on the telephone. This is a godsend for people on the move with a serious need for clear mobile phone communication. This feature can onlybe used with the current portfolio of Phonak hearing aids that incorporate binaural synchronization technology.

Further reading found on Phonak’s website - click here

More information on Phonak Hearing Aid Accessories and Hearing Aids - Click Here

Posted in Accessories, Phonak | 2 Comments »

14/06/2009 by John Lloyd.

Here is a new feature by Phonak - ‘duo-phone’  - which makes listening on your mobile phone much clearer. This is an extension to the feature ‘auto-phone’, which has been around now for several years, which is activated when a phone handset is held near to the hearing aid and the electromagnetic field in the handset triggers a programme change to a separate ‘phone’ setting (giving more mid-range amplification as telephones tend to shift the high frequencies to the mid-range). The new duo-phone not only switches the programme but simultaneously sends the audio signal to the other hearing aid!! So now phone users get binaural listening. Any hearing aid wearer who has gone from wearing one hearing aid to wearing two will tell you how much more benefit hearing with both ears gives.  Also, as an extra benefit we can reduce the volume of the hearing aid microphones, so if you are using your phone in a busy environment such as an office workplace, the background noise is attenuated whilst you are on the phone! This feature is proving invaluable for hearing aid wearers who really struggle on the phone or depend on the telephone for communication purpose.

The RNID sell phones which have a good magnetic induction strength such as the CL1100 (stock code T359)

Here is an audible demonstraton of Duo-Phone - Click here (please turn the volume up on your PC)

See also ‘click-and-talk’ by Phonak which allows the same with mobile phones

More information on all hearing aids and our discounts - click here

Posted in Accessories, Phonak | 1 Comment »