Over the years millions of people have benefitted from Analogue Hearing Aids but nowadays the most popular has to be the DIGITAL HEARING AID
So What Is Different About A Digital Hearing Aid. Hearing aid technology advanced dramatically in 1996 when the world's first 100% digital hearing aid was produced. The primary function and benefit of a digital hearing aid is cleaner sound quality compared to earlier analog products. Technology has made many great strides in making the world a better place and using a digital hearing aid is just on important step. Digital hearing aids boast today's most advanced technology. The main difference between an analog and a digital hearing aid is how the sound is processed. One advantage of a digital hearing aid is that it can theoretically be programmed to perform exquisite signal processing. because of their success, analogue hearing aids are now normally issued only as replacements to current users of analogue aids for whom a digital hearing aid is unsuitable. How Does A Digital Hearing Aid Work A Digital Hearing Aid is a hearing aid device that receives sound and digitizes it (breaks sound waves up into very small units) prior to amplification. The central part of a digital hearing aid is the digital signal processor. All digital hearing aids are custom built, so the audiologist will in every case need to have impressions of the user's ears. Digital Hearing Aid - On The NHS
If you live in the UK it is possible to get a digital hearing aid on the NHS. Whilst they work fine there are a few problems. Firstly at the time of writing the digital hearing aids that the NHS were providing were of the "behind the ear" type and possibly are not as pleasing to look at, as the ones worn in the ear canal. The other major problem is the waiting time to get an NHS hearing test. Once again at the time of writing this can be up to 2 years. For this reason many people with hearing problems decide to go private if they can afford it because the waiting time from start to finish is only about 4 weeks. The other advantage of buying one privately is that there is a lot more choice and the audiologist will let you try several to see which fits your needs best. The NHS brought the new digital hearing aid service to all audiology departments in England inil 2005. One final point I would make which many people do not realise is that you can get an NHS digital hearing aid, even if you've already bought a hearing aid privately. Digital Hearing Aid Problems The major problem in digital hearing aid is that of reducing power consumption, that is, they do run down batteries quite quickly. However, If you buy the batteries in bulk they are not that expensive when you compare it to the benefits to the hearing impaired person. The next obvious problem is the PRICE. Digital hearing aids are a lot more expensive than the old analogue ones. Price can also be driven by the type of digital circuit ordered. In the USA for example the average cost per hearing aid is between $1700 and $2800. In the UK it is between £1000 and £1500. Whilst there are some quite a bit cheaper and some more expensive ,these are average. Basically, you normally get what you pay for but be careful as when we checked, the difference between a similar hearing aid was as much as £900 in the UK and $1700 in the USA. Hearing aids incorporate a variety of technology, features and styles. They look very similar on the outside but the way the technology inside processes sounds is different. The more sophisticated the technology, the more expensive the hearing aid Let me ask you this though CAN YOU PUT A PRICE ON HEARING. Ask my mum. After years of hearing very little we bought her 2 hearing aids as she needed both. Ask her what is was like to hear birds for the first time in years, to join in conversations and most of all hear the voice of her great granddaughter. It is difficult to put a price on that
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