Hearing Aids - Everything you need to know on how they work and what new features are revolutionizing.

Today, if you are surrounded by busy city life, endure traffic horns on a daily basis, hear loud music on weekends or while driving, or just surrounded by noise, chances are you are exploiting your ears. Otherwise too, there could be many factors that can lead to a weak hearing system.

A hearing test will confirm if you need a hearing device or not. While there are different types of hearing aids available, the digital ones can do most of the automatic adjusting for you.

Advancement in technology is making our lives easier every day, no matter how much we damage our organs, technology has a way of giving us hope again.

Hearing aids are just one such device, that has made millions of lives easier

What is the role of a hearing aid?

As we all know the job of a hearing aid is to collect sounds from around and deliver them to the ear. They are called BTE (Behind the ear) and ITE (In the ear). There are some that are in the ear canal (CIC) and completely in the ear canal ones as well called mini CIC. Younger Children usually have BTE, which also comes in a wonderful color range, while older ones will have the ITE version, which is much smaller and fits perfectly in the ear.

If someone has a very severe hearing problem, they might be advised to use a Cochlear implant. It’s a tiny electronic device that is surgically implanted and helps people who cannot be helped by external hearing aids.

All kinds of hearing loss can be helped with modern technology, if not completely, then at least to a very great extent.

Basic Parts and Science of a Hearing Aid

The microphone is the aid that receives sounds, which are then converted to signals with the help of a computer chip. It analyses and adjusts the sounds based on your needs.

The amplifier increases the strength of this signal. In advanced devices, the noise-cancellation feature kicks in, or some other features are processes.

The speaker produced a magnified signal in the form of the sound wave and delivers it to your ear.

A battery is the oxygen of the hearing aid. Some devices now come with rechargeable batteries, while others come with disposable ones.

Modern Features in Hearing Aids

Today, hearing aids come with improved technology and have many new features like –

Noise Cancellation Feature: This is a modern feature, which has improved the quality of hearing aids a lot, by enhancing its purpose. 

Directional microphones: These can be aligned to pick up sounds from the direction you want. This helps when one is in an environment where there is a lot of noise, or generally in a crowded place.

Rechargeable batteries: Although this feature comes mostly with BTE hearing aids only, it makes them very cost-effective.

Telecoils Technology: Also called T-coils is a technology that can help hearing aids to be paired with telephones or other kinds of listening devices.

Wireless connectivity: They can also be called Bluetooth systems in hearing aids.  Today hearing aids can connect to most of the gadgets without the help of an external device, making users participate in meetings, listen to music and carry a lot of mobile functions seamlessly.

Remote controls. Some hearing aids come with remote control devices too, which can help you adjust features without actually touching the hearing aid. With remote control, you can adjust volume, switch between wireless features, and T-coil technology effortlessly.

Hearing aids are usually helpful to people who have suffered sensorineural hearing loss, caused by damage to the small sensory cells inside the ear known as hair cells. The damage can be caused by disease, aging, or injury from noise or drugs. Some even have reported a hearing loss after they got infected with Covid. A hearing aid is a useful device that helps the surviving hair cells to detect vibrations and convert them into signals that the brain can read. In simple words, Hearing-aids take the effort of listening from your brain and deliver the sound signals directly to them

Hearing aids are now modern communication devices, which have given sounds a whole new meaning to human life. With the added comfort, it reduces stress levels and restores confidence in individuals.