Latest Technology
Hearing aid technology has come a long way in the last few years, thanks to the computer microchip and digital circuitry. Here are some of the latest innovations.
Why does music from a cd sound more crisp, clear, and distortion-free than music from a record or tape? The answer, at least in part, is the difference between analog and digital sound processing.
Digital hearing aids have one or more microchip processors inside them that convert analog sound waves into the zeros and ones of computer language. Sound in this format can be processed more quickly and more efficiently than analog sound waves; in fact, incoming sounds are sampled at a rate of a million or more times per second. The digital aid’s circuitry analyzes these sound levels and frequencies, manipulating them to provide a more efficient match to an individual’s hearing profile.
Programmable technology
Digitally programmable hearing aids are different from fully digital aids in that they’re not equipped to process all incoming sound digitally.
Feedback reduction technology
Feedback has long been a problem for hearing aid wearers. Now we know a lot more about feedback, and have developed ways to deal with it. Feedback happens when amplified sound waves escape back out through the ear canal and are then re-amplified by the hearing aid—resulting in the high-pitched squeals that set your teeth on edge. Smaller, in-the-canal styles of hearing aids place components closer to the eardrum, preventing sound waves from escaping, thereby reducing, and often eliminating, feedback. Some new aids are also able to detect these sounds before they become audible and cancel them out, greatly reducing this frustrating problem.
Bluetooth Connectivity
Today, a number of hearing aids come with a Bluetooth® device that serves as a gateway between your hearing instruments and electronic devices such as Bluetooth®-enabled mobile phones or external audio sources. The audio signal is picked up by the Bluetooth® device, and streamed directly into the hearing instruments. In addition to enjoying hands-free binaural connection to phones, you are able to connect to TVs, PCs, mp3 players and car navigation systems; and hear those sounds through your hearing aids.