Hearing Aid Terms - Information that you have been looking for
You've known you've had a hearing loss for quite some time now and you finally get up the nerve to get your hearing tested
. They tell you that you need ahearing aid and you cant help but think, Why did this have to happen to me?? Then they start telling you about hearing aids and use tons of terminologythat just goes right over your head. Dont they know that you are in shock?? How can you make an informed decision about anything when you dont evenknow what they are talking about!?
There are hundreds of different hearing aids. It can be a very complicated world of technilogical terms. Sometimes those of us that work with hearing aidsall the time can forget just how foreign they can sound to you. To make matters worse, the manufacturers like to call things different names, so they sound like something different. No wonder there's so much confusion!
I am going to try to unravel some of the mystery for you. When you get down to it, there are really only a few terms you need to understand. Thesefeatures are the ones that really matter, and the model or the style of the hearing aid.
There are seven primary styles of hearing aids: ITE, Half Shell, ITC, Mini Canal, CIC, BTE, and Open Ear.
In the Ear (ITE) : ITE hearing aids are the largest custom style of hearing aid, filling the bowl of your ear, and can have the most power and featuresavailable for in the ear hearing aids.
Half Shell (HS) : The Half Shell is a custom hearing aid that only fills about half the bowl of your ear. They are able to have a good deal of power andfeatures, use a smaller battery, but are more cosmetically appealing.
In the Canal (ITC) : The next smallest size is the custom ITC hearing aid. Harder to see than the larger hearing aids, but also not able to have as much
power or as many features.
Mini Canal (MC) : Smaller than the ITC hearing aid, the custom mini canal uses a smaller battery and has even less power available. Features can also be
more limited.
Completely in the Canal (CIC) : The CIC is the smallest custom in the ear hearing aid and very popular due to its cosmetic appeal and ease of use. Thereare usually no manual controls on a CIC, telephone usage is often better because they are less likely to whistle. Lack of power is the main reason peoplecannot use this style of hearing aid, though a small ear canal may keep you from being able to wear one also.
Behind the Ear (BTE) : A BTE hearing aid sits behind your ear and is connected to your ear by a tube with an earmold attached. BTE hearing aids have themost power and features available.
Open Ear (OE) and Receiver in Canal (RIC) : This hearing aid is a fairly new style of BTE made available in recent years and are much smaller then atraditional BTE. They are meant primarily for high frequency hearing loss. The hearing aid is connected to your ear by a very thin tube or wire with a smallearbud on the tip. They are called Open Ear because they leave the ear canal less blocked than other styles of hearing aid.
Important Features:
Directional Microphones : These are available on most BTE, OE, ITE, Half Shell, and ITC styles of hearing aids. They are the best feature you can haveon your hearing aid for hearing in noisy places, such as restaurants. This means they reduce all the sounds that are behind you so that it doesnt get in theway of sounds that are in front of you. Directional microphones can be automatic meaning that the hearing aid automatically decides when to turn them ononce the sound level in the room gets too loud. Some are also be adaptive, which means they can follow moving sounds, or reduce several differentsounds at the same time.
Noise Reduction : Noise reduction doesn't really reduce noise, it reduces amplification in the frequencies where there is noise and no speech. If there is afan running in the background, the hearing aid will not amplify it as much as it will speech. When the hearing aid finds both speech and noise at afrequency, you still get both. More advanced the hearing aids manage noise better by breaking the frequencies up into smaller pieces.
Memories : There are two types of memories available on a hearing aid, manual and automatic. Many hearing aids have a push button that allows you tohave different settings (memories) for different situations such as quiet places, noisy places, and music or telephone. The hearing aid beeps when youpush the button to let you know which memory you are using. Advanced hearing aids can have memories that are automatic. Instead of pushing a button,the hearing aid does it for you! Some hearing aids have a combination of both.
Feedback Cancellation : Feedback (or that annoying whistling sound) is the number one compaint people have about hearing aids. Most hearing aidwearers experience feedback when they put their hand over their ear, or use the phone. Feedback Cancellation will take down the amount of feedback(whistling) that you hear.
Bands / Channels : Bands are what we use to adjust the volume in a hearing aid. More bands means more control when we program the hearing aid to
your hearing loss.
Channels are used to adjust the part of the hearing aid that keeps the sound from getting too loud. Channels can also refer to the hearing aid noise
reduction system. For noise reduction, more channels is definitely better because the hearing aid can break the sound up into smaller pieces and isolate
noise from speech.
Hearing Aid Terms - Information that you have been looking for
By: Center for Hearing Aids
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