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Hearing Aid

Conventional analog hearing aids (~$900)
1. Components
  1. Battery
  2. Microphone transduces sound into electrical energy
  3. Receiver changes electrical energy into sound
  4. Most hearing aids can adjust volume
    1. May be a problem with background noise
2. Sub-Types
  1. Linear (Simple hearing aid)
    1. Amplifies loud and soft sounds equally
  2. Non-Linear
    1. Varied amplification for loud and soft sounds
    2. Decreased recruitment (increased loudness)
Programmable hearing aids
1. Programmable by audiologist
2. Sound levels adjustable for audibility and comfort
3. Some available with multiple programs
  1. (e.g. telephone, music)
Digital hearing aids (~$2900)
1. Digital signal processor samples incoming signals
2. Adjusts in different sound environs
  1. Can reduce background noise from non-speech source
  2. Enhances speech understanding
3. Programmable by audiologist

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This page was written by Scott Moses, MD. This page was last revised before 5/10/08, prior to consistent tracking of revision date. This page was last published on 5/16/2008. Please send comments and questions to the editor. Contact information may be found on the page About the Family Practice Notebook. These pages are best viewed with Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0.