Battery Tips
1. All hearing aid batteries are now zinc-air. They are better for the environment!

2. Zinc-air batteries are activated by air. So don't remove the tab until you are ready for use!

3. When you pull the tab the air activation begins. Once the process begins, you cannot stop it.

4. When you pull the tab place it on your calendar so you can anticipate when your battery life will end.

5. Always carry spare batteries!

6. A battery inserted wrong will not work, and worse, may fracture the battery door!

7. Store your batteries in a cool, dry place, but never in a refrigerator.

Ototoxic Drugs Aren't New

Ototoxic drugs have been around for a long time. In fact, ototoxic substances have been recognized since the 15th or 16th century B.C.! However, it was only in the past 130 years that doctors recognized the ototoxic potential of certain drugs.

For example, Quinine, found in the bark of the cinchona tree, has been used by the natives in South American for centuries to treat malaria. About 1630, Europeans also began using this drug for treating malaria. Even so, it wasn't until the late 1800s that doctors began to realize the ototoxic effect of Quinine.

Another example is in 1829, researchers discovered salicin, the active ingredient of Salicylates (of which Aspirin is one), but it took another 48 years before they first noticed its ototoxic properties.

"There are more than 920 drugs and chemicals that have been discovered to cause hearing loss"
- Neil Bauman, Ph.D.