Abstract: A hearing assistance system having a first and second hearing assistance devices for hearing stimulation of first and second ears, each hearing assistance device having a first interface for wireless data exchange between the first hearing assistance device and the second hearing assistance device and a second interface for wireless reception of an external data stream from an external data stream source, each hearing assistance device being adapted to repeatedly exchange information concerning the charging status of the battery of the respective hearing assistance device with the other hearing assistance device in order to monitor the remaining battery lifetimes, wherein the hearing assistance devices are caused to switch the role of master and slave when the difference in the battery charges of the two devices exceeds a given threshold, with the hearing assistance device having the higher battery charge forming the new master after the role switching.