Rayovac has developed new child-resistant hearing aid battery packs to comply with new laws to protect the health and safety of children in the U.S.

In August 2022 U.S. President Joe Biden approved Reese’s Law in a bid to protect children against risks associated with the ingestion of button, coin, and hearing aid batteries. On the back of this law, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has set new rules that mandate that these batteries, and the devices powered by them1, must be contained within child-resistant packaging (CRP) with stringent warning text and icons clearly visible.

Rayovac has developed new hearing aid battery packs that are not only certified as child-resistant but are also still accessible for hearing aid wearers, particularly the elderly.

The products, which will be produced from March 8, 2024, have been subject to rigorous independent tests by a global specialist in the evaluation and protocol testing of child-resistant closures and packages. The tests showed that the Rayovac packs were 100% child-resistant, with no child able to open them during the testing process2, while seniors found they could open the packs within seconds by following a simple set of instructions2.

“In designing the new packaging, we’ve also been careful to ensure that existing hearing aid users can access our batteries quickly and easily,” says Paula Brinson-Pyke, director of marketing for Rayovac. “In the tests that we commissioned, 99% of seniors were able to open the packs for the first time in less than a minute, and this time was halved on the second attempt2.

References:

  1. This does not include hearing aid devices as they are exempt.
  2. Senior Adult Test, Sequential Child Test, CPSC 16 CFR PART 1700.20, August 2023, Prepared by Child Related Research, Inc.

Photo: Rayovac