WHAT IS A DIGITAL HEARING AID?

Very simply put: a hearing aid is a device used to help hard of hearing people to hear sounds better. A digital hearing aid achieves this by receiving sounds through a number of microphones, processing the sound and outputting it into your ear. The processing of the sound is performed by what is essentially a mini computer inside the hearing aid.

Noise reduction

Noise is unwanted sound. As mentioned above, noise reduction is extremely beneficial in hearing aids to enable the wearer to more easily hear the sound they are interested in. Digital Noise Reduction (DNR) technology in hearing aids can often cause a problem when listening to music – the aid will identify the music as noise and attempt to drown it out. For this reason, many aids come with a separate programme (see below) specifically for music.

Feedback reduction

Similar to noise reduction. Aids will provide dedicated processing to avoid feedback noise.

Programmes

Hearing aids are worn in many different environments and situations. For this reason, most digital aids have a number of programmes. A programme is a set of instructions for the hearing aid, it tells it how much noise or feedback reduction to apply, what the volume setting should be and so on. The wearer is able to switch between programmes using a button on the shell or on a remote control.

Directional microphones

Some aids have more than one microphone. This not only helps to get a better range of hearing, it can also be used to improve noise reduction. If you are listening to someone directly in front of you, it is possible to turn off the backward-facing microphone to eliminate noise from behind – some aids may do this automatically, some may allow the wearer to switch too.