Hearing Aids

Hearing loss can sometimes creep on you and many of us that worked at jobs back in the 70’s worked in the absence of hearing protection. Now we are reealizing the damage done. It is important to make use of the available hearing protection today but if you are one of those that think they aren’t hearing everything, go for a hearing test soon. The technology available in hearing aids should offer a style that meets your needs.

But if your hearing has deteriorated to the point where you cannot hear the doorbell and the telephone ringing, or the teapot in the kitchen whistling, you should consult an audiologist to determine whether or not you are a candidate for a hearing aid.

If you are ready for a hearing aid, dont despair. Hearing aids are no longer the bulky, uncomfortable and very obvious devices you might remember having seen in your youth; the 2005 introduction of open fit hearing aids changed that forever.

Open fit hearing aids are tiny devices which rest outside and behind the ear, with no ear canal-occluding earmold. Open fit hearing aids instead have extremely thin, nearly invisible ’sound tubes’ and are so lightweight that their users often forget they are wearing them.

Open fit hearing aids are available in two designs; the speaker-in-ear, or SIE models, and the acoustic tube models. The tube model open fit hearing aids have all their electronics housed in the small plastic shell which lodges behind the users ear. Sound first gets processed in the behind-the-ear casing, and then moves along the acoustic tube and enters the ear canal.

The SIE open fit hearing aid, however, takes its speaker out of the plastic shell and moves it to the end of the thin tube, where there is a sound tip. SIE open fit hearing aids, therefore, do not need as much gain directly at ear level to provide the same amount of sound output within the ear canal. This makes them more suitable for a broader range of hearing impairment than the acoustic tube models, which work best with high frequency hearing loss.

Open ear hearing aids are available with directional microphones, which allow those wearers in nosy environments to point them directly at a speaker for better sound clarity. Their biggest drawback is that they are automatic, and do not have any adjustable volume control.

If you are at the age where you think you high frequency hearings not quite what it once was, make an appointment with an audiologist to determine the degree and cause of your hearing loss. And if you are in need of hearing aids, open fit hearing aids may be a very pleasant surprise!

David Faulkner
You can also find more info on digital hearing aids and programmable analog hearing. FirstHearingAids.com is a comprehensive resource for people suffering from hearing loss to get information on hearing aid options, prices and maintenance.