There are many hearing aid manufactuers in the world

There are many hearing aid manufacturers in the world. We have the ability to work with most all of them. Over the years we have learned which companies consistently produce high quality instruments and have great customer service. Listed below are links to companies we most commonly use in our office (in no particular order): GN ReSound, Phonak, Rexton, Oticon, and Siemens. Visit these links to learn about specific products and features.

Hearing Aid Styles

There are many styles of hearing aids. The degree of the hearing loss, power and options requirements, manual dexterity abilities, cost, and cosmetic concerns are some of the factors that will determine the style the patient will use. The most common styles are listed below:

ITE: In-The-Ear units are probably the most comfortable, the least expensive and the easiest to operate. They are also the largest of the custom made styles.
ITC: In-The-Canal units are a little more expensive than ITEs. They require good dexterity to control the volume wheels and other controls on the faceplate, and they are smaller than ITEs.
MC: Mini-Canals are the size between ITC and CIC. A mini canal is a good choice when you desire the smallest possible hearing aid while still having manual control over the volume wheel and possibly other controls.
CIC: Completely-in-the-Canal units are the tiniest hearing aids made. They usually require a removal string due to their small size and the fact that they fit so deeply into the canal. CICs can be difficult to remove without the pull string. CICs do not usually have manual controls attached to them because they are too small.
BTE: Behind-the-Ear hearing aids are the largest hearing aids and they are very reliable. BTEs have the most circuit options and they typically have much more power than any of the custom made in the ear units. BTEs are the units that sit on the back of your ear. They are connected to the ear canal via custom-made plastic tubing. The tubing is part of the ear mold. The ear mold is custom made from an ear impression to perfectly replicate the size and shape of your ear.

Three Levels of Hearing Aid Technology

There are essentially three levels of hearing aid technology. We refer to these as analog, digitally programmable, and digital.

ANALOG technology is the technology that has been around for many decades. Analog technology is basic technology and offers limited adjustment capability. It is the LEAST expensive.

DIGITALLY PROGRAMMABLE technology is the "middle grade" technology. Digitally programmable units are analog units digitally controlled by the computer in the office to adjust the sounds of the hearing aid.

DIGITAL technology is the most sophisticated hearing aid
technology. Digital technology gives the audiologist maximum control over sound quality and sound processing characteristics. There are qualitative indications that digital instruments do outperform digitally programmable and analog hearing aids. Digitals are not perfect, but they are very good. Digital hearing aids have been widely available since 1996.

Digital Hearing Aid Features

Bands and Channels
Sound received by a 100% digital hearing aid is converted to binary code to be digitally processed. Once digitized, the sound spectrum heard by humans (250 Hz - 8000 Hz) is separated into individual bands. These bands are segments of sound that can be individually controlled to match the hearing loss and hearing needs of the user. Generally speaking, the more bands, the more precisely the sound can be controlled. The bands are also grouped into channels. A channel controls a group of bands such as the low tones, middle tones, or high tones. How the bands and channels process the sound is controlled by professionally fitting the aid. What a digital aid does with the sound once it has been converted to binary code is called Digital Signal Processing (DSP). In addition to volume, the programmer can control the compression, expansion, direction, and noise reduction of each band. Digital hearing aids are very sophisticated and fitting the aid properly will depend greatly on how well the professional understands the auditory system. Education and training is important when fitting a hearing aid and critical when fitting digital aids.

Multiple Programs (MP)
Multiple programs allow the hearing aid to react to sound differently to accommodate different listening environments. Because no single type of signal processing is ideal for every listening situation, multiple programs are like having several hearing aids in one. Examples of different listening environments which require different programs are; a noisy restaurant, a church service, watching TV at home or a club meeting. The programs are changed by the user with either a switch on the aid or a remote control. With this feature the user gains control of how the aid is handling sounds and is a more powerful tool than a volume control.

Noise Reduction (NR)
This is one of the great advantages of digital hearing aids over analog aids. The temporal patterns of sounds are analyzed by the computer chip in the aid. If the sound is a constant steady-state sound, the aid recognizes this and suppresses the noise. It is important to remember that the aid will not eliminate the noise. That would not be realistic. It does, however, allow the user to concentrate on a conversation with greater ease. Independent research studies have clinically proven that a person using a hearing aid with noise reduction can discriminate speech more accurately than using a hearing aid without noise reduction in the presence of noise.

Feedback Reduction (FR)
Feedback occurs when a hearing aid re-amplifies sound that is produced by its own speaker. It sounds like a high-pitched whistle or buzz. In an analog hearing aid the options to end the feedback are to reduce volume, reduce the vent size or remake the entire hearing aid. Digital aids with this feature can detect the feedback sound and produce a sound wave 180º out of phase, canceling the noise without reducing the volume.

Dual Microphone Systems (DM)
This is another feature to reduce background noise. This works by having 2 microphones on the hearing aid; one directed behind the user and one facing forward. When the system is activated, any sounds directly behind and to the sides of the user are suppressed and the sounds coming towards the face of the user are amplified normally. This gives the user the control of what gets amplified by facing the source. Dual microphone systems are not available in the completely in the canal (CIC) style of hearing aid due to lack of room on the small faceplate. Digital aids with both dual microphones and noise reduction offer the most sophisticated features today to handle the problem of background noise.

Additional Features
There are other features available to make life with hearing aids easier, such as: Remote controls (RC), Low battery indicator (LB), Programmable Telecoil (PT), and Mute (M) to reduce feedback during insertion and remove of the aid.

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