Best Hearing Aids

Digital Hearing Aids: Worth The Expense?

Have you ever asked yourself if digital hearing aids are right for your hearing needs?  These aids have become tremendously widespread in the past few years – an industry which boasts around 20 manufacturers, featuring roughly 40 different models of hearing aids.  What kind of digital hearing aid best suits you...and just what are you getting from one of these hearing aids, anyway?

Let’s begin by examining the three types of digital hearing aids.  The most common type of aid is known as behind-the-ear (BTE).  With this type of aid, an ear mold which sits in the canal is attached to tubing that runs behind the ear to the device.  This particular aid tends to be bulky, but now, there are choices in the type of digital hearing aid to select from.  The two kinds which have surpassed the BTE in popularity are called in-the-ear (ITE), and in-the-canal (ITC).  The ITE hearing aids – worn in cases of hearing loss ranging from mild to severe – are able to handle different technological additions, like the telecoil.  This is a coil which allows the listener to have an improved transition of sound while on the phone.  ITC aids are basically the same, only smaller, which provides discretion to the wearer, as do the ITE devices.  The smallest digital hearing aid is the completely-in-the-canal (CITC) hearing aid; this device is very small, hidden in the ear canal.  It also is said to be the toughest to adjust – and thus fewer people might opt to use them.  Children, in particular, are not recommended to use these devices.

How are these technologically advanced digital hearing aids different from your classic hearing aids?  The older-style aids – known as analog – provide the transmission of sound through microphones and transistor amplification.  The sounds are turned into electrical signals which are sent to the earphone and work right next to your eardrum.  These hearing aids are cost efficient compared with digital hearing aids – but the tradeoff is receiving fewer features with analog.  Digital aids, meanwhile, transform mike signals into data, allowing sounds to be specifically adapted to the listener’s needs.  A digital chip within the aid analyzes the data by way of digital signal processing (DSP); all this activity is eventually turned back into electricity, before becoming sound which finds its way to the ear.  The complexity of the DSP instructions are part of the reason digital hearing aids can provide such a vast array of sound options.

The fact that digital hearing aids cost so much more than traditional analog aids has led some to question just whether these hearing devices are more a case of bells and whistles than a real help to hearing.  In many people, the specifics that digital aids offer are a significant help.  For many others, however, analog hearing aids are said to be able to handle the type of hearing loss suffered by the majority of people.  It is up to you and your physician to figure out the best course of action, and if that course is through digital hearing aids.