Download our Shoppers Guide!
Your Needs: Technological Solutions
Answering the Digital Question
You will be told how digital technology will help you to hear better, but what does digital technology do? Basically, it incorporates a computer chip into the traditional design in order to store information on your hearing loss and on your personal preferences for how the hearing aid should work. This personalization significantly increases performance in order to maximize your chances for success. One caveat, however, is that there are several levels of technology to choose from, which drives the price and in turn is driven primarily by your lifestyle needs.
There are so many options available to you, it is important to analyze them and receive good advice on what is likely your best overall choice. Each level of technology offers digital hearing solutions based on your level of hearing loss, lifestyle and budget. While this handout will go a long way in explaining the benefits of what digital technology can do, the best way to understand it will still be to experience it for yourself: Call for your FREE demonstration.
There is no one perfect solution for every patient, hence the huge variety of technological options available. Everybody's lifestyle is different, so it is best to assess what your needs are to determine the best solution for you. Someone with a very sedentary lifestyle could do just fine with a basic hearing aid, whereas someone with a very demanding communication situation will require more advanced technology. Nearly all hearing aids are digital, but there are wide ranges in the levels of digital technology and the options available. When you discuss your options with your hearing healthcare professional, the following are the most common technological features that should be discussed:
- Sound Quality Features: This is typically handled through features known as "channels " (sometimes called "bands "). The sounds in your environment are broken down into different segments, from low frequency to high frequency, and loudness for each frequency channel can be adjusted automatically to maximize comfort and sound quality. Generally, the more channels a hearing aid has, the better. If a person has a very complex hearing loss, an instrument with more channels is more important.
- Programs: Because listening environments change, hearing aids often have different "programs " or "memories " with different settings to deal with the varying listening situations. These are often manipulated using a button on the hearing aid, a remote control, or may actually even be automatically controlled by the computer chip itself. Since nothing created by man is perfect, it is still a good idea even if your hearing aid has automatic programs, to have access to manual controls. Here are the different levels of sophistication when it comes to program situations:
- Level 0: Single memory
- Level 1: Multi-memory
- Level 2: Automatic memory control
- Level 3: Automatic memory control with manual options
Background Noise: Previously one of the biggest complaints a hearing aid user had about hearing aids is how well they performed in background noise. The hearing aids would amplify everything, including the background noise. In 1994, however, one manufacturer developed the use of directional microphones to improve speech intelligibility in background noise. These work by reducing sounds to the sides and to the rear, and assume that the signal of interest is the conversation in front. The directional setting can sometimes occupy one of the programs. There can be some variation in the levels of directional microphone, and the current levels are broken down as follows:- Level 0: Omni-directional (i.e. no noise reduction)
- Level 1: Fixed Directional Microphones
- Level 2: Switchable Omni/Directional Microphones
- Level 3: Automatic Directional Microphones
- Level 4: Automatic & Adaptive Directional Microphones
- Level 5: Automatic, Adaptive, Frequency-specific directional microphones
Ambient Noise Reduction: Some sounds in the environment, if amplified, can be annoying and yet not necessarily interfere with speech intelligibility, such as air conditioning, fan noises, machine noise, etc. Most digital hearing aids have at least some basic form of ambient noise reduction to reduce the annoyance of these sounds. They utilize the channels in the hearing aids to analyze the environment and reduce the sounds that are more like noise than speech. Because of this, having more channels available is important to most accurately reduce the noise without taking away speech intelligibility. As an example, with a basic two-channel instrument, if there is mostly noise in one of the two channels, you lose half of the amplification. By contrast, with a twenty-channel system, you might only lose one or two channels while preserving the remaining speech frequencies.
- Telephone Compatibility: Most hearing aids come with a feature to help out with telephone compatibility known as a telecoil. Why is a telecoil necessary to use on the telephone? Because, depending on the amount of amplification and physical design of the instrument, you may run into acoustic feedback (whistling) when the telephone is placed next to the hearing aid. A telecoil works by transmitting information by magnetic signal from the telephone to the hearing aid rather than by acoustic signal, thereby reducing or eliminating the chance of feedback. The telecoil setting can sometimes occupy one of the programs. As with directional microphone technology, there are a few different levels of telecoil features:
- Level 0: No telecoil
- Level 1: Standard telecoil
- Level 2: Programmable telecoil
- Level 3: Programmable & Automatic telecoil
- Level 4: Programmable, Automatic, Dual-Signal telecoil (sends telephone information to both ears at the same time)
- Feedback Reduction Technology: Feedback is the annoying whistling that can sometimes happen when the sound from the hearing aid leaks back into the instrument's microphones. There are many factors for why feedback may happen, so there are also several solutions for reducing the chances of this happening. First and foremost is the style of the hearing aids, but beyond that, the hearing aid may also have a feedback reduction feature. This uses the technology in the hearing aid to reduce the chance of feedback. Often, a calibration test is required while the patient is wearing the hearing aid. Below are the levels of feedback reduction technology:
- Level 0: No feedback reduction
- Level 1: Gain-limiter feedback reduction
- Level 2: Phase-cancellation feedback reduction
- Level 3: Gain-limiter & Phase-cancellation feedback reduction
Special features: Hearing aids can have features to deal with very specific problems and lifestyle needs. These features help hearing professionals narrow down the choices and can sometimes pinpoint one specific product that might be best for the patient. Often, the higher levels of technology simply have the most features, and therefore are the most likely to meet all of the patients needs. Here is a list of just some of these potential special features:- Remote Control Option: Some hearing aids have an option for a remote control, which can be beneficial in regards to the patient's manual dexterity, convenience of manipulation, reduced wear-and-tear on the hearing aids, and more discreet control.
- BlueTooth capability: While the telecoil feature can go a long way towards compatibility with regular telephones, cell phones can still be an issue. As a solution, a few manufacturers have come up with BlueTooth wireless compatibility which connect the hearing aids with the cell phone through an accessory device. This would be a key feature for people who use cell phones frequently.
- Wind Noise Manager: Wind noise can be a problem; therefore the hearing aid may have an electronic feature to reduce annoyance from wind noise.
- Ear-2-Ear Synchronization: Adjusting the settings on the hearing aids can take time and manipulation. With Ear-2-Ear synchronization, adjusting the setting on one side automatically adjusts the other side as well.
- Frequency Compression: Recently developed technology. Sometimes a person's hearing in certain ranges (primarily the high frequencies) can simply be beyond the reach of the benefit of amplification. In these cases, a feature known as frequency compression can "squeeze " the sounds in the high frequency range down into the mid frequencies where the patient likely has better hearing. The result is better speech intelligibility and sometimes reduced chances of feedback.
