Styles and Models | Types of Amplification | Features and Benefits

Features and Benefits

Today’s hearing aid technology has progressed to amazing levels which is good news for the hearing impaired. There are many new technologies available and too many to list individually. Following is a small sample of some of the most important features and how they can make the transition to better hearing so easy.

Directional Microphones

"Directional microphones are the only proven method to improve speech understanding in noise by greater than 35%. This could be the difference between being left out of a conversation and being an active participant."

Dr. Mark Flynn, Senior Audiologist, Oticon A/S, Denmark

One of the most common complaints for past hearing aid users is the inability to understand speech when they are in noisy environments. For example following conversation in restaurants,cafes, family gatherings, party situations etc. Directional microphones are designed to assist the hearing impaired understand speech in these trying background noise environments.Over recent years the trend has been to have multiple microphones ( 2 or 3 ) on each hearing aid which is a move away from single microphone hearing aids.They are more sensitive to the sound from in front of you while reducing the sounds coming from the side and behind. This then makes it easier to comprehend speech from the person you are facing.

Noise Reduction

Some hearing aids also have this feature. This searches for differences between background noises and speech like sounds.Then ,it reduces the level of many background noises to enhance your understanding of speech in noise.

Feedback Management

Many people would have heard about or had hearing aids which whistle or “feedback”. This is exceptionally annoying to the user and often other people can also hear this whistling. Obviously this can be an embarrassment to the hearing aid user.Older style hearing aids tried to reduce the whistling by turning down the overall volume which also reduced the important sounds users wanted to hear. Now technology is able to detect and erase feedback without reducing the volume ensuring total comfort and ‘peace of mind” for the user.

Thin–Tube Open Fitting

If you have worn hearing aids before you may have noticed a condition called "occlusion." Occlusion occurs with conventional hearing aids that completely occupy the ear canal. Sounds are all processed the the instruments microphone and speaker system. Quite often the users own voice may sound odd, blocked or a bit like talking down a barrel. Sometimes chewing can also overlay the voices of other people. Occluded ears can also cause discomfort in the ear canal due to humidity. By using a very thin sound tube and small dome this takes these issues out of the equation.In conjunction with Feedback Management the result is a more natural sounding hearing aid without compromising your ability to hear or your wearing comfort. They are also very cosmetically attractive.