Types of Hearing Aids

Hearing aids have been used by the hearing impaired for many years. The first aids ever invented were simply a cone which was held up the ear and people would speak into this cone. The sound would be funneled directly into the ear. Things have drastically improved and there are now digital devices available.

Basically, hearing aids use microphones to make amplify quieter sounds. The hearing aid receives a sound and converts it to an electrical (and now digital) output which is then sent to a speaker and turned into a sound again. Settings for each microphone depend on how bad the individual’s hearing loss is and their typical surroundings. The audiologist will ask each patient a number of questions to ensure that the settings on the hearing aid are correct.  

There are three kinds of hearing aids today. The least advanced is the analog adjustable hearing aid. As this is the least developed, it naturally costs less than the other two. This hearing aid can be adjusted by your audiologist and will be made exactly to your specifications. You can control the volume if you don’t want it to be automatic. 

The analog programmable is another hearing aid.  This is more advanced than the simple analog device because it is programmed using a computer. The audiologist will set a number of different programs which can be chosen as needed by the individual using a remote control. 

Digital programmable hearing aids are without doubt the most developed and advanced of all three devices. However, they are also the most expensive.  It is only in recent years that they have become practical as for many years they were simply too big to fit behind the ear. The circuitry of every digital hearing aid has a feature called DSP (Digital Sound Processing). A computer chip is used to analyze all sound before it is sent to the ear and amplified.  Literally millions of digital number codes are used to identify each sound and correct the settings accordingly. This digital information is converted into sound and sent to the ear. These hearing aids are the most convenient as they are automatic and need little input from the user. 

Hearing aids have seen dramatic improvements in recent years. The way that they work nowadays is with modern technology. Long gone are the days of conical implements and shouting into somebody’s ear. Computers set the hearing aids and little work is required from the actual user.