A contest!

My cochlear implant uses three batteries, compared to the single battery that powers my hearing aid. The CI burns through those batteries every two to three days, whereas the hearing aid goes at least a week between juice-ups.

Cochlear has released a rechargeable battery, but I am waiting until 2007 (when I will have more money available for pre-tax medical reimbursements) to purchase one. For now, I'm still popping batteries like breath mints.

A couple of months ago, Steve suggested that I save the dead batteries, rather than tossing them in the trash. He thought he might "do something" with them. What, he wasn't sure. As the weeks have passed, and the pile of batteries has grown, neither of us has come up with any brilliant ideas.

And so, I'm turning to you. If you are unfamiliar with standard size 675 hearing aid/CI batteries, they look like this: 

The photo is pretty close to actual size (ignore the blue thing, which is the plastic tab that protects the batteries before you use them).

What should we do with this little gizmos? Get those creative juices flowing!

Comments

[Jennifer]

Wow, I wish I had ideas for you. I've been tossing those 675s for years now...I bet they pile up fast with that implant! I read on a CI list that one woman saves hers (takes them out and saves them, three at a time) and one day a month or so, she just goes through them all on a day when she's home...she says that she can get a few more hours' wear out of them after they've had a chance to sit and rest a few days. I don't know if you feel like bothering, but she was proud of her idea :D
Some kind of mosaic, perhaps? ;)

[fish]

ha! earrings! could you wire them together in some sort of dangly fashion??

Perhaps Steve could glue them onto a board or fabric or something in the shape of a cochlea - a nice spiral pattern - and mount it in a shadow box. You could add other tchotchkes too (I'm not sure what).
OR here's another idea - since they look like hockey pucks, perhaps you could get a picture of a hockey game and enhance it with batteries where the puck is.
OR you could glue them together as tiny little dollhouse furniture (chairs, tables, a sexy round bed).
Admittedly, these are really stupid ideas, but you asked me to post them as a way to inspire the creative juices in other folks! mom

How about a big mosiac of an ear?
obie/karin

[Alison]

Send them back to the supplier, and get them charged up again. In the UK, you have to take your old batteries back to the hospital, before they will issue you with new ones.

Batteries filling landfill sites is not a good idea.

[TPB, Esq.]

I think Lowes will recycle them, but I don't know if they have the right kind of electrolytes inside.... are they Lithium Ion or Nickel Cadmium?

If you save your batteries in the pack that they came in, you can donate them to nursing homes for hearing aids users. CI batteries after use by a Nucleus user, still have enough juice to last hearing aid users a couple of days for their aids. It helps those who can't afford to purchase batteries for their aids.

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[Lee]

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[muse]

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