Hearing Aids, Protection, and Batteries

Welcome to advanced-hearing.com. We provide valuable information on hearing loss and hearing loss treatment. Many people, old and young alike suffer from hearing loss – while some hearing loss occurs naturally with age, a common reason for loss is due to long term exposure to loud noises such as heavy machinery, power tools, aircraft or loud music. There are also many diseases which can cause hearing loss, sometimes permanently.

Hearing aids are small, electronic devices that amplify sounds to allow those with hearing loss to regain some of their hearing. Hearing aids can compensate for hearing loss but cannot restore the ear’s full, natural hearing. The quality of sound with a hearing aid is not the same as what is experienced with a healthy ear. Many people who have hearing loss could have easily prevented it by using earplugs or other safety precautions.

The human ear relies on thousands of tiny hair cells inside it to pick up sound waves and relay them to the brain – damage to these cells is what causes hearing loss. A hearing aid merely amplifies the sound waves entering the ear, making it louder to compensate for the fact that less of the hair cells are functioning. This means that if enough of these cells are damaged, a hearing aid will be ineffective at restoring hearing. There are some treatments, such as the cochlear implant, which are able to restore at least some hearing to completely deaf persons.

Hearing aids come in several varieties, each of which may be suitable for a different person. They all function in the same general manner and differ mostly in placement. Each has its own advantages:

•Behind the Ear:

Behind the ear hearing aids house the microphone and amplifier in a plastic case worn behind the ear – it is connected to the speaker which is placed in the outer ear. Some have an earpiece which fills the outer ear like a conventional hearing aid or headphone earbud but there is an ‘open ear’ type as well that does not obstruct the ear canal – this is useful for those with mild hearing loss who dislike the sensation of having their ears ‘plugged up’.

Behind the ear models are the most noticeable as most of the electronics are outside the ear itself. The bulkiness of the unit may also make it difficult to hold a telephone up to the ear, but there is a device called a telecoil included inside many hearing aids which can allow the hearing aid to receive signals directly from the phone instead of through the attached microphone, making it much easier to hear over the phone.

•In the Ear:

In the ear models fit completely inside the outer ear and are less noticeable than behind the ear types. They are smaller but usually can still have the same range of features available in larger types.

•In the Canal:

In the canal hearing aids fit either completely or partially into the ear canal itself. Completely in the canal aids are nearly invisible to others but they are very small and can be difficult to remove and service. Their reduced size means they may not be able to support some more advanced features like telecoils and direct input, and they may not be suitable for those with profound hearing loss due to their low power.

 

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