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Digital Hearing Aids; Technological Advancements for Hearing Impaired

Posted by Kolleen on Saturday, February 27th, 2010

There are many different styles and types of hearing aids available for those people who are suffering from a hearing loss, either a severe hearing loss or a minor one. Any kind of hearing loss could be devastating without the proper equipment to help a hearing impaired person hear what they are missing.

Many young people are suffering from a hearing impairment due to prolonged exposure to loud music, loud factory machines or construction machinery in which proper ear protection is not worn. Additionally, many young people are listening to personal music devices which ‘pump’ the music directly into the ear canal with small ear-buds, however these are large sounds coming out of them. Many young people simply don’t know what they are doing to their ears until it’s too late and they are asking for answers as to why they are hearing impaired.

Hearing aids of years ago would typically pick up sounds and transfer them to the ear; however those hearing aids did not decipher between noises and voices and in general, the hearing impaired person would have to read lips to figure out what a person was saying.

Today there are many new advancements in technology for hearing aids and several new digital hearing aids which are more comfortable because they go in the ear canal verses lying on the back of the ear where a lot of people find it to be very uncomfortable, especially if they wear eyeglasses or sunglasses. An audiologist could help adjust the feel and fit of a hearing aid as well as the amount of hearing and static or feedback a person might experience. There are always dials on a hearing aid in which the person wearing it could adjust the ‘feedback’ themselves and often should in different surroundings and when they are with different machinery.

The place to begin if you are suffering from a hearing loss is a doctor of otolaryngology which is an ear, nose and throat specialist. This visit will rule out things such as tumors or bacterial infections which could also cause hearing loss.