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Seniors Health 2006-03(hearing) |
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Hearing Aid Technology
Seniors Choice Newsmagazine, March 2006
Hearing aid technology has undergone incredible advancements over the past 10 years. Analogue technology was the most common level of technology 10 years ago. Analogue hearing aids amplify sounds picked up by a microphone and convert them into small electrical signals. Today digital hearing aid circuits are available in four levels of complexity: Basic, Entry, Premium, and Advanced. Digital aids convert the sound into computer language - 'bits' of information, and then finely manipulate the sound information to suit your hearing loss and adjust to the environment you are in. Digital hearing aids can be adjusted, by means of computer, to suit the specific user. As you move up the level of technology the degree of sophistication in the sound processing and features available will increase. 83% of the hearing aids sold in 2004 were digital products, an increase of 35% from 2002.
Digital technology offers you a wide variety of features to better meet your daily listening demands.
· Automatic volume adjustment so the levels of the sounds are kept within your range of tolerance.
· Directional microphones to improve your ability to focus on the speech signal in front of you, while reducing the amount of noise heard from behind you.
• Artificial Intelligence - the parallel processing of information - to synchronously evaluate the actual outcome of all possible combinations of settings so that speech is to be presented in a most optimal manner in the presence of any type of environment
• Noise reduction systems to reduce steady-state background noise such as sound from fridges, furnaces or computer hard drives. Noise reduction is performed only in those specific tones ranges the noise falls in as the goal is to always maintain speech clarity and ensure comfort in noise.
• Feedback Management Systems to reduce the frequency or eliminate entirely the annoying occurrence of the high pitched whistling sound.
• Wind Noise Management Systems which recognize the specific sound of wind and electronically reduce the volume of the wind noise portion.
• Automatic Telephone programs. Automatic activation of the phone program in your hearing aid with the placement of the phone to your ear.
• Computer tracking of your hearing aid usage so the aid may be reprogrammed to better suit your needs.
How to choose a digital hearing aid:
• Identify the top 5 specific listening situations you wish to hear better in.
• Share those with your hearing health care consultant.
• The more complex or diverse those situations are, the more features you may require on your hearing aid to help you hear speech to the best of your ability.
If you have any hearing-related questions please send them to me at
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or submit them directly to me at either of my offices. Colin VanBergen is a clinical audiologist, and manages both the Kelowna and Westbank offices of the Okanagan Hearing Clinic. |
