HEARING AIDS
HEARING AIDS
What is a Hearing Aid?
A hearing aid is a small electronic device that you wear in or behind your ear. It amplifies sounds so that a person with hearing loss can hear, communicate, and take part more fully in daily activities. A hearing aid can help you in both quiet and noisy situations. A hearing aid has three basic parts: an amplifier, microphone, and a speaker. The hearing aid receives sound through a microphone, which converts the sound waves to electrical signals and sends them to an amplifier. The amplifier increases the power of the signals and then sends them to the ear through a speaker.
Types of Hearing Aids
Behind Ear
These are the most common type. (BTE)
They are a small plastic device that sits behind your ear that is attached with a tube to a piece of plastic that fits in your ear or a soft tip that goes into the opening of your ear.
One of the easiest types to use and suitable for most people with hearing loss. Also available in a range of colours.
In the Ear
(ITE) In the ear hearing aids fill the area just outside the opening of your ear.
They can't be seen from behind and are only visible from the side. ITE hearing aids are suitable for most people with hearing loss, although they can be trickier to use than other hearing aids such as BTE hearing aids
Reciever in ear
Receiver in the ear (RITE) hearing aids are similar to BTE hearing aids.
The main difference is the part of the hearing aid that sits behind the ear is smaller and is connected by a thin wire to a speaker placed inside the opening of the ear. Less visible than BTE hearing aids and are suitable for most hearing loss, but can be more fiddly to use than BTE hearing aids.
Completely in canal
In the canal (ITC) hearing aids are similar to ITE aids, but are a bit smaller and just fill the opening of the ear.
They are significantly less visible than many other types of hearing aids, but can be trickier to use and are not usually powerful enough for severe hearing loss types.
Do I need a Hearing Aid?
Early warning signs or changes in your behaviour that indicate hearing loss include:
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Stuggling to hear voices or complaining people are speaking too softly
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Having to ask people to repeat themselves often, especially in noisy environments
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Stuggling to understand people on the phone
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Listening to tv and radio at a loud volume
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Have difficulty understanding or hearing details in public setting or at live performances
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Becoming more irritable, impatient, frustrated or withdrawn than before
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Having trouble understanding people when you cannot see their faces
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Straining to hear conversations, especially when in a group setting
How can Hearing Aids help?
Hearing aids mainly improve your ability to understand speech of people, normally rectifying hearing loss that results from damage to the small sensory cells in the inner ear, called hair cells. This type of hearing loss is called sensorineural hearing loss. The damage can occur as a result of disease, ageing, or injury from noise or certain medicines.
Unlike glasses, hearing aids do not correct your hearing, but instead function to amplify sounds in a range of pitches where the hearing loss exists. Eg: Speech, birds singing, traffic noise or bells ringing. A hearing aid magnifies the sound vibrations entering the ear. Surviving hair cells detect the larger vibrations and convert them into neural signals that are passed along to the brain. The greater the damage, the more severe the hearing loss, and the greater the hearing aid amplification needed to make up the difference.