WHAT IS A HEARING AID?                      

As hearing loss affects each person’s hearing differently, hearing aids are programmed to suit your individual hearing loss. They enhance your ability to understand speech by providing the right amount of amplification in the frequencies where you are missing important speech sounds.

Basically, a hearing aid consists of a microphone to pick up sound, an amplifier to amplify and process sound and a receiver or speaker to transfer the sound to the ear.

Microphone

The microphone picks up sound and converts the sound waves to electrical waves. A single microphone picks up sounds equally from all directions. Advances in hearing technology have introduced multiple microphones which have improved speech understanding in background noise. Multiple microphones focus on sounds in front and reduce amplification of sounds coming from the sides and behind.

Amplifier

Since the mid 1990s, the majority of amplifiers manufactured are based on digital technology. The main function of the amplifier is to amplify sound to a level that the hearing impaired person can hear and understand speech clearly and comfortably.

Amplifiers also have the capability to reduce feedback, the annoying whistling that hearing aids can make. In addition, the amplifier is also able to apply noise reduction to the signal by reducing the background noise and emphasizing the speech signal.

Receiver

The receiver transmits amplified and signal processed sound into the ear canal. In behind-the-ear instruments, the sound must travel from the device behind the ear via a plastic tube to a mould in the ear canal. In the in-the-ear styles, the receiver is placed in the ear canal, making the receiver more susceptible to wax damage.