Hearing aids have meant an advance in the quality of life of many people suffering from hearing loss and is that hearing clearly is essential when we want to communicate with our environment. It is normal that over the years we lose hearing quality, although we take care of our ears, so it is important to detect it early in order to remedy the problem as soon as possible and that it does not end up affecting long-term hearing health with the different types of hearing aids.
So if you think you may need a hearing aid, do not postpone the visit to our hearing centers, since incorporating it into your day to day can facilitate the routine no matter how old you are. In addition, in Optics & University Audiology we offer you the possibility that you can try your hearing aid for free for a month and thus check how you feel with it while wearing it in your ear. If you want to know how to use your hearing aid and the wide variety of types of hearing aids that exist, keep reading this post and take note.
How do hearing aids work?
Today, new technologies have made it possible to implement significant changes and advances in the design of hearing aids, which are much smaller, more comfortable and adaptable to all ears.
Although it is true that hearing aids cannot make us recover the hearing quality we had, it does recover many of the sounds that we did not hear before, thus improving hearing capacity and especially the understanding of words. This is possible thanks to the fact that they include small microphones inside that collect the sounds and words of the environment, a microprocessor that converts the sound that enters into a digital code and that is modified through a headset, adjusted in a personalized way to the hearing needs of each patient, improving the word and reducing noise, to gain the maximum possible understanding.
The current hearing solutions we offer at University Optics and Audiology have nothing to do with the old analog hearing aids we all remember beeping behind our beloved grandparents’ ears.
Nowadays they are small computers that do not beep and that are designed to be able to better understand, not hear louder, which is what used to happen with analog hearing aids, and that have the ability to connect with technology.
They can be connected to the Internet of Things and be programmed remotely, they can be connected directly to your TV, smartphone with call input without having to take your mobile out of your pocket, listen directly through them to music as if you were wearing wireless headphones, virtual assistants, and automatically adjust to different sound environments to get the most out of each situation and not miss anything.
Types of hearing aids
The degrees of hearing loss, the size of the ear canal, the hearing needs of each patient and the ability to handle it of each person are factors that affect the choice of one or other types of hearing aids. Therefore, different brands have been adapted and have evolved to create hearing aids that adapt to all ears. The following types of hearing aids are the most common and popular among hearing aid users:
In-the-ear hearing aids
These hearing aids are characterized by being located inside the ear canal. Don’t worry, because the fact that they must be put inside the ear does not mean that they are uncomfortable, but quite the opposite, and they are popular for being very personalized to theneeds of each user, since they are made to measure so that they can be placed inside the ear.
Among the in-the-ear hearing aids we also find several models, such as full or medium shell, which also work inside the ear, but are larger and are seen because they occupy the outside of the ear. Even so, it should be noted that they have greater battery independence as they are larger and easier to manipulate, so if you are looking for something simple to use these headphones can be useful.
Behind-the-ear hearing aids
Behind-the-ear hearing aids are the best known, those that go on the outside of the ear, specifically behind it. Even so, you should not worry about whether it looks much because there are many different designs that manage to disguise the shape of the hearing aid. In this case, the operation is very simple because the microphone of the hearing aid is behind the ear and connects to the receiver through a transparent and very thin tube that is placed inside the ear as if it were a headset.
They serve to correct all kinds of hearing loss, but it is highly recommended for children, because they are very easy to manipulate and adapt, and for people with a lot of wax in the ears, since cleaning the hearing aids is very easy.
In-canal receiver hearing aids (RIC or RITE)
They are the last and most modern to arrive, also the most adapted today; These are smaller hearing aids than behind-the-ear headphones but are also located behind the ear. The main difference between the two is that the headset is located in the ear canal instead of inside the body of the hearing aid, connected to each other through a small and almost invisible cable.
The main advantages of these types of hearing aids is that, being so small, nobody will notice that you are wearing it, they are perfectly hidden behind the ear, in addition to that you will notice a greater sense of comfort because you will notice the ear freer and clearer. They are the hearing aids that provide the most natural sound of all.
As you can see, a hearing aid can improve your quality of life but you should not forget the importance of taking care of your ears day by day to have good hearing health. Now that you know all the types of hearing aids that exist, you can get an idea of what will be most comfortable for you to correct your hearing problems.
If you notice that you have lost the ability to hear certain sounds, notice that you no longer hear with the same clarity or that you have difficulty following a conversation, we recommend that you go to one of our centers so that we can do a hearing check at no additional cost to detect your needs in time.