Genuine vs Counterfeit Hearing Aid Batteries: How to Tell
by Crystal Hearing Solutions
Genuine and counterfeit hearing aid batteries can look almost the same, but they do not behave the same. Fake hearing aid batteries often run down early, can make your hearing aid cut out and can leak inside it. To be sure yours are genuine, buy from a seller you can trust and check every pack before you use it.
Which sellers can you trust for genuine batteries? The clinic that fitted your hearing aid, or a dealer authorised by the battery’s maker. Ask for a bill, and steer clear of loose cells, sellers you cannot identify and prices far below normal.
Quick Answer: How to Avoid Fake Batteries
Before you use a new pack, check four things: an unbroken seal, sharp and correctly spelt printing, a printed expiry date that has not passed, and a tab on every cell in the colour of its size. If any is wrong, do not use the pack. If a fresh battery runs down much sooner than usual, stop using that pack and speak to your audiologist.
What a Fake Battery Can Do to Your Hearing Aid
Disposable hearing aid batteries are zinc-air cells: they start working when air reaches them through tiny holes under the sticker tab. A counterfeit or badly stored cell can:
- Run down early: you change batteries far more often than you should.
- Give unsteady power: the sound can crackle, fade or stop, and the low-battery warning can come too soon, especially while you stream calls or music.
- Leak: the fluid inside is alkaline and corrosive. It leaves a white crust and can damage the battery contacts in your hearing aid.
- Fit badly: a cell even slightly the wrong size can lose contact or jam in the battery door.
How to Spot Fake Hearing Aid Batteries
Check the seller before you pay, and the pack and the cells before you use them. One warning sign is reason enough to stop.
| What to check | Genuine | Warning sign |
|---|---|---|
| Seller | Your hearing clinic or an authorised dealer, with a bill | A seller you cannot identify or check |
| Seal | Sealed and unbroken | Torn, re-taped, or cells sold loose |
| Printing | Sharp, correctly spelt, colours that match your usual pack | Blurred, misspelt, colours that look off |
| Expiry date | Printed on the pack, well ahead of today | Missing, scratched off, only on a sticker, or past |
| Tabs | On every cell, lying flat, in the colour of the size | Missing, lifting or the wrong colour |
| Cells | Clean, identical and undamaged | White powder, rust, dents or odd ones out |
| Price | Close to what you usually pay | Far below what others charge |
Keep an empty pack from a seller you trust and hold each new pack beside it. Copies tend to slip on small details: a shade of colour, the font or the wording on the back. Makers do redesign their packs from time to time, so a difference is a reason to ask the seller, not proof of a fake. A lifting tab matters too: air gets in, and that cell starts to drain before you use it.
Buying Genuine Batteries: Where It Is Safe
The clinic that fitted your hearing aid is the easy choice: it knows the size your hearing aid takes, and you know who to ask if a pack seems faulty. Ask any other seller whether they are authorised for that battery brand, and buy only as many as you will use well before the expiry date.
Online, check who the seller is, not only the brand name on the listing. If you cannot tell, or the price is far below what others charge, buy elsewhere. When a pack arrives, check it against the table above before you peel a single tab.
Our page on hearing aid batteries in Mumbai has more, including how long each size usually lasts.
Which Battery Size Does Your Hearing Aid Take?
Disposable hearing aid batteries come in four common sizes, and each size has its own colour on the tab and the pack. Your hearing aid’s user guide names the size, and so does your last pack.
| Size | Colour | Usually found in |
|---|---|---|
| 10 | Yellow | The smallest in-the-canal hearing aids |
| 312 | Brown | Receiver-in-canal and small in-the-ear hearing aids |
| 13 | Orange | Behind-the-ear and larger in-the-ear hearing aids |
| 675 | Blue | Power behind-the-ear hearing aids |
A pack whose colour does not match its size number is a warning sign. To see each style, read our guide to the types of hearing aids.
What to Do If You Suspect a Fake
- Stop using the pack: take the battery out, and never leave a dead or doubtful battery inside your hearing aid.
- Look inside the battery door: if you see white crust or discolouration on the contacts, do not scrape it. Show the hearing aid to your audiologist.
- Keep the evidence: hold on to the pack and the bill, and tell the seller.
- Try a pack you trust: if that one also runs down early, the cause may be your hearing aid, not the battery.
Batteries that run down early are not always fake: streaming and moisture can shorten battery life too, which matters in Mumbai’s monsoon. Our guide to hearing aid care and maintenance covers the daily habits that help.
A swallowed battery is an emergency. If anyone swallows a hearing aid battery, or a child puts one in their nose or ear, go to a hospital emergency department at once, even if they seem well. Do not make them vomit, and take the battery pack with you. To prevent this, keep new and used batteries away from children and pets, and apart from medicines, because they are easy to mistake for pills.
Tired of Buying Batteries?
If checking packs and changing tiny cells has become a chore, rechargeable hearing aids may suit you better. You charge them at night, like a phone, with no disposable batteries to buy.
Whichever you choose, buy it from a hearing aid shop that is an authorised dealer for the brand, just as with batteries. Crystal Hearing Solutions is an authorised dealer for Signia, Phonak, ReSound and Widex, with 11 clinics across Mumbai, Thane and Navi Mumbai. If your hearing aid is getting old, our Smart Upgrade Program lets you trade in an old hearing aid bought anywhere towards a new one. A free 7-day hearing aid trial lets you try one in daily life before you decide, and EMI is available over 3 to 24 months, with 0% on select premium models.
Frequently Asked Questions
Check the pack and the cells. Blurred print, no printed expiry date, missing or lifting tabs, white powder on the cells and a price far below normal are all warning signs.
It can be, if you know who the seller is. A brand’s name on a listing does not mean the brand is selling it, so check the seller and keep the bill.
They can. A poorly made cell may leak alkaline fluid that corrodes the battery contacts. If you see white crust inside the battery door, do not scrape it. Show the hearing aid to your audiologist.
No. Disposable hearing aid batteries come in four common sizes, 10, 312, 13 and 675, so any genuine battery of the right size works, whichever company makes it.
Fake or old stock is one cause. Streaming uses more power, and moisture can shorten battery life too. If a fresh pack from a seller you trust also runs out early, ask your audiologist to check your hearing aid.
Questions About Your Hearing Aid or Its Batteries?
Call or WhatsApp our head office. Audiologists and clinical experts answer from 9 am to 9 pm, every day, and all our audiologists are RCI-certified. If you are a senior, ask about a free home visit.