DIGITAL HEARING AID TECHNOLOGY Digital hearing aids were first introduced in 1995. Until 2003, hearing aids were generally categorized and marketed as Conventional, Programmable and Digital. More recently, hearing aids are undergoing a technology revolution with an explosion of better and more affordable digital technology offerings. In 2004, over 80% of all hearing aids dispensed in the United States were digital hearing aids. With the wide range of digital instruments now available, there are many digital aid levels and features. These features are each described below and the following chart summarizes Hometown’s categories of digital aids. Summary of Product Categories and Features Adjustable Channels or Bands Memories for Phone, Other Listening Situations Directional Microphones ** Digital Noise Management Feedback Control Automatically Adjusts to New Sound Environments Conventional Analog no no no no no no Non-Programmable Digital 1 - 2 1 fixed no no no Basic Digital 1 - 6 1 - 3 fixed no or basic no no Value Digital 2 - 8 1 - 3 fixed no or basic no or basic no Open Ear Digital * 16 3 intelligent intelligent intelligent yes, if desired Advanced Digital 4 - 16 2 - 3 fixed, intelligent yes yes no Premium Digital 8 - 20 3 - 7 intelligent intelligent intelligent some models * as of late 2005, there are several Open Ear products available. These generally overlap the other catergories from Value Digital up to Premium Digital. We've listed the features of our primary Open Ear product because we believe this product has the most "bang for the buck" of any Open Ear product available. ** directional microphones are usually an added cost option, but are included in the base price of most Open Ear and some advanced hearing aids Intelligent = latest, most advanced technology, self-adjusting based on environmental factors Channels or Bands Channels or bands are similar concepts that refer to sound frequencies or groups of frequencies that can be adjusted for your hearing loss. Generally, more channels/bands provide increased flexibility to fine-tune hearing aids for your hearing. While the most advanced hearing aids typically have the most channels, a greater number of channels does not necessarily equate to a better hearing aid. Today’s most advanced instruments also allow processing characteristics of individual channels to be adjusted so each channel can be programmed for improved feedback management and speech in noise performance. Memories or Programs Memories are the number of separate programs that the hearing aid can handle. Typically, individual memories are used for some upgrade features (e.g. directional microphones or special telephone technology) and for separate programs for different listening situations. For example, a typical 3-memory instrument would have one memory for telephone usage, one for quiet environments and one for noisy environments. As a general rule, if you are less active and don’t rely on your hearing aids for telephone usage, 1 memory may be sufficient. If you need your hearing aids to perform effectively in multiple listening environments such as home, work, on the phone and noisy social situations, then you’ll need a greater number of memories. Directional Microphones Directional microphones are 2nd and 3rd microphones that can be added to the hearing aids for improved speech in noise performance. Most of the lower and mid-tier digital instruments have fixed directional microphone systems that must be manually turned on and have fixed “polar patterns” that reduce sounds from the side and back and focus on sounds to the front. The more advanced instruments have directional microphones that can be adaptive, automatic or dynamic (“intelligent” directional microphones). These more advanced directional systems have the ability to self-engage in noisy situations and can automatically analyze your listening environment and optimize the directional microphones for the best possible results. Digital Noise Management or Noise Reduction The most common complaint of those with hearing loss and of many hearing aid users is of difficulty hearing in noisy environments. As hearing acuity diminishes, the ability of our ears to focus on speech sounds in the presence of background noise is diminished. Older hearing aids, while effective at amplifying speech in quite environments, amplify noise and speech alike resulting in an unintelligible garble of sound when background noise is present. Noise management or noise reduction is the ability of hearing aids to differentiate between speech sounds and noise sounds and to minimize the noise while amplifying the speech. Effective noise management can improve your ability to hear speech in noisy or difficult environments. Wind Noise – Wind noise is a special noise management challenge for hearing aids. Wind noise is different from most background noise and must be treated differently by a hearing aid. Some of the more advanced hearing aids have special wind noise managers to minimize annoying wind noise. If you spend significant time outside where wind noise is a factor, a hearing aid with a wind noise manager may be right for you. Feedback (Squealing) Reduction Effective amplification requires the hearing aid to have sufficient volume (gain) and most require some level of high frequency amplification to achieve the best possible clarity and results. High frequency amplification and increased volume have a tendency to create a feedback loop or the squealing sound that can be annoying and embarrassing. In the past, sacrificing volume or high frequency amplification reduced feedback. While this can reduce feedback, it requires settling for a prescription that is less than ideal. Today’s advanced hearing aids employ the latest software to allow your hearing professional to provide the volume and high frequency amplification that you need while the hearing aid software detects and eliminate feedback before it occurs. Today’s advanced feedback management technology helps avoid the annoying and embarrassing squealing sounds while enabling a more perfect prescription for your hearing loss. BACK TO ABOUT HEARING AIDS