Has Hearing Aid Technology Improved?
I am a member of the Saddlebrooke Hearing Discussion Group. At a recent meeting we had an attendee state that he felt hearing aid technology hadn’t improved in the last 50 years. While I admit that hearing aids haven’t restored my hearing to what it was when I was younger and noisy environments can still be challenging, I do believe that there have been significant improvements in technology during the last 50 years.
Prior to the 1990’s most hearing aids were analog. The problem with analog hearing aids was that they amplified all sound equally. This made it difficult to distinguish speech from background noise. Digital hearing aids provide just enough amplification so that soft, normal and loud sounds are clearer and more normal sounding. They are also more power efficient so batteries last longer
Digital hearing aids provide the audiologist with the ability to computer adjust your hearing aids so that they can customize amplification for different frequencies and environments. Audiologists could also create programs for different listening situations such as noisy restaurants.
Another advancement is directional microphones that improve sound localization by amplifying sounds coming from a specific direction making it easier to follow conversations in a noisy environment. Many hearing aids today are rechargeable. That eliminates the need to carry around replacement batteries and the challenge of removing them from the new child resistant packaging. A single charge can typically last all day even if you stream a lot of calls and audio programs.
Personally, I believe that one of the biggest advances was Bluetooth connectivity which allows phone calls to be streamed directly to hearing devices. Many of my acquaintances who know that I have a profound hearing loss have been amazed at how well I hear them over the phone. Prior to being able to stream calls I typically had to have my wife answer calls for me.
I also have a TV connector that allows me to stream stereo quality audio directly to my devices. Prior to getting the TV connector it was increasingly difficult to not only hear the TV, but to also understand the audio.
Other advances are smart phone apps that allow the user to change hearing aid programs and adjust the volume. The most recent advancement are AI (artificial intelligence) hearing aids which learn from your listening environment and adjust automatically to optimize sound for speech and reduce unwanted noise. A few of our members have AI hearing aids. It will be interesting to learn about their experience.
Our group meets on the 2nd Friday of every month at 10 AM in the Catalina Room in the Mesquite Building. We typically have one or two Doctor of Audiology students from the University of Arizona in attendance who are happy to answer your questions. If you have questions about this article or would like to have your email added to our distribution list, contact me at tgaule@outlook.com.