The numbers don’t lie: at some time in your life, you’re more than likely going to need a hearing aid. A study from NIDCD estimates that around a quarter of all people between the ages of 60 and 75 have some kind of loss of hearing, and that figure goes up to 50% for people 75 and older. The best means to fight age-related loss of hearing is to wear a hearing aid, but how do you know which type is best for you? Advances in technology over the years have resolved some of the issues traditionally connected to hearing aids, including an excessive amount of background noise and vulnerability to water damage. But there’s still a good deal you should know when deciding on a hearing aid to make sure it works with your lifestyle.
Directionality is a Crucial Feature
One important feature you need to pay attention to in a hearing aid is directionality, which has the ability to keep background noise to a minimum while focusing on sound you want to hear including conversations. One, or both, of two directionality systems are working inside most hearing aids, they either focus on sound directly in front of you, or they focus on sound produced by different speakers and sometimes do both.
Will Your Hearing Aid Connect With Your Phone?
As a nation, we’re addicted to our cell phones. Even if you don’t have a smartphone, it’s likely you have an old-style cell phone. And for those few who don’t actually have a cell phone, you likely still have a land-line. So, the way your hearing aid works with your phone is an important consideration when you’re shopping for hearing aids. What does it sound like? Are you capable of discerning voices precisely? Is it Comfortable? Are there any Bluetooth connectivity features available? When looking at new hearing aids, you need to take into account all of these.
What is The Probability You Would Actually Use it?
In the past few years, as noted above, the technology of hearing aids has significantly improved. One of those advances has been the size and shape of hearing aids, which are much smaller today. However, there will always be some trade-offs. It depends on what your specific needs are. A smaller hearing aid is not as obvious and might fit better but a larger one might be more powerful. The little models won’t have the features of the larger models and they could get clogged with earwax but they do fit inside your ears virtually invisibly. On the other end of the spectrum, a behind the ear hearing aid is bigger and may be more obvious, but often come with more directionality functions and have more choices for sound amplification.
What Kind of Background Sound Will You be Exposed to?
One of the largest issues since the advent of hearing aid technology has been wind noise and the havoc it causes to users. Being outside on a windy day with a traditional hearing aid used to mean that you couldn’t hear anything except the wind, which is enough to drive anyone crazy. you live in a windy place or if you’re an outdoor kind of person so you’ll need to get a hearing aid that suppresses wind noise so you can have conversations at an average volume and avoid the headaches that are associated with hearing aid wind noises. Educate yourself about the many different hearing aid options available to you. Give us a call.