Hearing Services: Hearing Aids

Hearing aids work diversely based on the electronics used.

In Hearing services, A hearing aid is a small electronic device in or behind the ear. This device makes some sounds louder so that people with hearing loss can listen, communicate, and participate more fully in their daily lives. A hearing aid can allow people to hear more in quiet and noisy circumstances. Nevertheless, only one out of five people who would gain from a hearing aid uses one.

A hearing aid has three fundamental parts: a microphone, an amplifier, and a speaker. The hearing aid accepts sound through a microphone, which transforms the sound waves into electrical signals and transmits them to an amplifier. The amplifier raises the power of the signals and then transmits them to the ear with a speaker.

Hearing aids work diversely based on the electronics used. The two principal types of electronics are analog and digital.

1. Analog aids transform sound waves into electrical signals, which are amplified. Analog/adjustable hearing aids are tailor-made to fulfill the requirements of each user. The manufacturer programs the aid as per the specifications favored by the audiologist. Analog/programmable hearing aids possess beyond one program or setting.An audiologist can program the aid through a computer. One can change the program for diverse listening environments—from a small, quiet room to a congested restaurant to large, open areas like a theater or stadium. Analog/programmable circuitry can be employed in all types of hearing aids. Analog aids generally are more cost-effective than digital aids.

2. Digital aids transform sound waves into numerical codes, akin to the binary code of a computer, before amplifying them. Since the code also comprises details regarding a sound's pitch or loudness, the aid can be particularly programmed to augment some frequencies more than others. Digital circuitry provides an audiologist more flexibility in adapting the aid to a user's requirements and certain listening environments. These aids can also be programmed to focus on sounds from a certain direction. Digital circuitry can be employed in all types of hearing aids.

How can hearing aids help?

Hearing aids are mainly helpful in bettering the hearing and speech comprehension of people with hearing loss that follows from harm to the small sensory cells in the inner ear, named hair cells. This type of hearing loss is named sensorineural hearing loss. The damage can occur due to disease, aging, or injury from noise or specific medicines.

A hearing aid magnifies sound vibrations arriving at the ear. Surviving hair cells identify the larger vibrations and transform them into neural signals passed to the brain. The higher the damage to a person's hair cells, the more serious the hearing loss and the higher the hearing aid amplification required to make up the difference. Yet, there are practical boundaries to a hearing aid's amplification. Moreover, if the inner ear is too impaired, even large vibrations will not be transformed into neural signals. In this case, a hearing aid would be ineffective.