August 26, 2008

Hearing Aids – An Introduction

Many people who would actually benefit from a hearing aid never take the first step to see if they need hearing assistance because they have a mental picture of a cumbersome, unattractive hearing aid. Hearing aids today can be attractive as well as utilitarian so this should no longer be your concern as outlined in the following guest article by Salvador Paez.

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An Introduction To Hearing Aids

There are times that people find that they have problems with their hearing. When this happens, they turn to hearing aids. In the older days, hearing aids were big horn-like devices that amplified sound when the patient needed to hear or listen to something. It wasn't the most convenient of things to carry around but it helped.

Fortunately breakthroughs in technology have made it possible for us to do away with those the odd-looking device. These days, hearing aids are commonly electronic devices that are worn on the ear like your everyday ear phone. The primary design had a rectangular battery pack that connected to the ear piece with a long wire with the battery pack was usually placed in the user's pocket. However the microphone used to amplify sounds wasn't placed very strategically so this design tended to be flawed, often suffering disturbances from the user's clothing. Later on, they came up with hearing aids that had a small battery inside the actual ear piece.

There are several hearing aids for you depending on your specific needs. There are the body worn hearing aids, which were introduced earlier. And then there are behind the ear (BTE) hearing aids, which are situated behind the ear with a specially made ear mold. This is convenient because it allowed the user to still use their natural hearing and at the same time it came out in a variety of colors and designs.

Following these types is the in the ear (ITE) hearing aid. You can find many of these custom made to fit the user's ear. Modern models of the ITEs have the ability to regulate and cancel feedback, a loud, screeching sound caused by sound leaking out and being amplified again.

There are those advised for mild to moderately severe hearing problems only. These are the in the canal (ITC), mid canal (MIC) and completely in the canal (CIC) types of hearing aids. ITC aids only fill the bottom half of the external ear. MIC and CIC are smaller and usually not immediately visible.

You might be interested in the unconventional BAHA instead. Bone anchored hearing aids (BAHA) are aids that are surgically implanted devices that use bones as pathways of sound.

Before there were eyeglass aids, devices that combined both hearing aids and spectacles. These were devices that were catered for those who had problems with both hearing and seeing. The hearing aids were put in the temple part of the glasses. The trouble with this was that there wasn't much of a choice for frames, and one had to wear both the glasses and the hearing aids together, or not at all.