Today's digital hearing aids are very small and
discreet and contain a microchip - a miniature computer that helps
us tune and personalise your hearing aid to your individual
needs.
This means you can have a conversation in a busy or
windy place without hearing loud background noise. All the hearing
aids that we prescribe at Amplifon are digital.
Digital technology means that hearing aids are much smaller and
less visible than older analogue devices. You can choose designs
and colours to match your hair colour or skin tone. Some hearing
aids are so small that you can barely see them at all.
And they don't whistle. We
programme hearing aids individually so you can:
- Pick out speech from background noise
- Automatically adjust the volume, depending where you are
- Use them in a range of different situations, such as listening
to music in your living room or playing golf on a windy course
Digital hearing aids are much more advanced than analogue
aids. They contain a silicon chip comprising millions of
electrical components that continuously process incoming sound,
convert it into clearer and more audible sounds and then release
these at the appropriate sound level into the ear. Their
sophistication allows them to distinguish between sounds that
need to be amplified and unwanted noise that needs to be reduced.
This differentiation allows wearers to distinguish similar sounding
speech sounds much more clearly.
Because they are much more advanced, digital hearing aids can be
adapted to work with an individual's personal degree of hearing
loss and lifestyle needs. They have a number of pre-set programs
which can be used in different situations, such as quiet
conversations, concerts, or at parties where there is a great deal
of background noise.
The more sophisticated digital aids enable the user to watch the
TV while taking part in conversations, locate where sounds are
coming from, eliminate whistling and feedback while on the phone or
hugging someone, and can link up via wireless technology to the TV,
mobile phone, computer or stereo system.
Analogue hearing aids
The first electronic hearing aids were 'analogue' and some
people still wear them.
Analogue hearing aids amplify sound - but that's all they do.
They amplify all sound equally so that background noise is louder
too. They can't help you distinguish between the sounds you want to
hear and the sounds you want to cut out.
The microchip has completely changed hearing aids from the
devices you may remember your parents and grandparents using.
If you are in your 60s, you may remember your grandparents
wearing hearing aids like this
or your
parents wearing hearing aids like this.
You may still think of hearing aids as big, cumbersome and
available in two colours only - grey or pink. You may remember the
embarrassment when someone's hearing aid whistled in church or at
the theatre.
