Hannah Morris, Practice Administrator, Meadows & Wood Hearing Care

Almost every home with a hearing aid in it also has an old one somewhere, in a drawer, a bedside cabinet, sometimes more than one. People often ask me what they’re supposed to do with them once they’ve moved on to a new pair, so I thought it was worth explaining properly.

It’s worth saying first how much has changed. Not so long ago, every hearing aid ran on tiny disposable batteries that needed replacing every week or so, and almost all of them sat behind the ear. Now, most new hearing aids are rechargeable, so you simply pop them on a charger overnight the way you would a phone, and the range of styles has grown too. In-the-ear and in-canal devices are barely visible, and even the behind-the-ear styles are far smaller and more discreet than they used to be. Many can now connect directly to your phone or television over Bluetooth as well, so calls and programmes come straight through your hearing aids rather than a separate speaker. If your old hearing aid is a battery-powered, behind-the-ear model with none of that, that alone tells you how far the technology has moved on, and it’s often part of why people are curious what a new pair could offer.