Do you have an aversion to wearing hearing aids based on what you heard from your parents or grandparents about how well they worked? Well, hearing aids have come a long way since 1995, back when preferential hearing modes were all the rage. Today’s hearing aids offer amazing features that’ll leave you shocked at how easy hearing can be.
Basic Hearing Aid Parts
All hearing aids consist of four main parts:
- A microphone, which picks up sounds in your environment.
- An amplifier, which turns up the volume on these noises to the exact specification that your hearing loss requires.
- A receiver or speaker, which delivers the amplified sounds to your ears.
- A battery, which powers your device.
Today’s Hearing Aid Features
Modern hearing aids do really well to adapt to your environment. If you’re watching a game at Levi’s Stadium, your hearing aids can turn up the volume of your conversation partner’s voice while dampening the sounds of the crowd roaring to prevent future hearing damage.
Here are some of the features that enable your devices to adapt:
- Automatic volume controls provide more amplification for soft sounds and less amplification for sounds you can hear with ease.
- Directional microphones pick up the speaker in front of you and amplify it while reducing distracting background noise coming from the sides.
- Noise reduction circuitry improves the user’s listening comfort in louder environments by reducing constant noise, like wind noise or background babble.
- Automatic phone programs turn on when your phone receiver is near and turn off when you hang up.
- Music recognition circuitry adjust the hearing aid for improved music clarity.
- Feedback cancellation circuitry monitors for the whistling sound some hearing aids make and reduces or eliminates it.
- Impact noise sensors reduce amplification of loud, sudden noises like the slamming of a car door.
Signs It’s Time to Upgrade
If you have a hearing aid that’s more than five years old, it may be time to upgrade to one of today’s state-of-the-art devices. Other signs it’s time to upgrade include:
- Significant changes in your hearing ability
- Changes in your health or dexterity
- New job or hobby
- Better financial situation
- New attitude toward hearing aids
For more information on choosing hearing aids or to schedule an appointment, call San Francisco Audiology today.