The new hearing aid technology offers numerous benefits, such as the ability to connect with one's personal electronic devices, remove unwanted background noise, and prioritize speech.
FREMONT, CA: While hearing aid technology has advanced over the past few decades, they have always consisted of four basic components: a microphone, a processor, a receiver, and a power source. It is the microphone that picks up the sounds in the environment and passes them on to the processor. The processor enhances the signal and sends it to the receiver, which amplifies it and delivers it to the ear canal. The system is powered by a battery or a power source.
The following four technological features are recommended for all hearing aids: a telecoil, Bluetooth, a pleasing or discreet design, and rechargeable batteries. A hearing aid's "superfecta" of features has been dubbed.
Technology for hearing aids can be classified as advanced or basic, depending on the sophistication of the processor. The best hearing aids of previous generations cannot compare with today's basic digital hearing aids. However, OTC hearing aids tend to have fewer of these features.
Technology advancements in hearing aids: Digital hearing aids are becoming more automatic and have more features that help people communicate in difficult listening situations as technology advances. As a result of new technologies, hearing aids are more expensive and offer greater benefits. Hearing aids with advanced features are more likely to have the following characteristics. Unlike personal hearing amplifiers, hearing aids offer these kinds of advanced features.
Compatibility with Bluetooth: Bluetooth compatibility allows hearing aids to connect wirelessly to mobile phones and other Bluetooth-enabled devices, typically through an intermediary device. Bluetooth technology improves the signal-to-noise ratio and eliminates feedback from the microphone since the signal bypasses the microphone and goes directly to the hearing aid's processor. Furthermore, Bluetooth connections are less likely to experience interference than FM connections.
High-quality sound processing and frequency response: When sound enters a hearing aid, it must be divided into bands of sound, also called "channels," and digitized before it can be amplified. Better hearing aids have more flexibility in banding sounds that are amplified based on the hearing loss prescription.
