Hearing aids come in different styles and choices. At Vida Percy Audiologists we will assist you in making an informed decision about the right choice of hearing aids depending on your lifestyle, manageability, nature and degree of hearing loss and your budget. At Vida Percy Audiologists we fit only digital hearing aids and they come with different features to assist in better processing of speech sounds.
CIC – Completely In the Canal Digital Hearing Aids
These are custom made digital hearing aids that can assist people with mild to severe hearing loss depending on the size and shape of your ear canal. These are very tiny and sit at the outer end of the ear canal and are practically invisible. They carry very small sized batteries hence you must have good manual dexterity and good eyesight to operate. Some of these aids come with a remote control.
MC – Mini Canal Digital Hearing Aids
These are custom made digital hearing aids which are bigger in size than the CIC. They are suitable for mild to moderate hearing loss depending on the size and suitability of the ear canal. They can have either a volume control or a program button on the hearing aid and can come with a remote control.
ITC – In The Canal Digital Hearing Aids
These are custom made digital self-contained units that are fitted in the ear canal. They are suitable for people with mild to moderately-severe hearing loss. Ear canal size and shape is a determining factor. These aids are bit bigger than the MC and can have volume control and program buttons with directional microphone on the hearing aids or can have an optional remote control.
ITE – In The Ear Digital Hearing Aids
These are custom-made, self-contained units that fill the concha area (contour) of the ear. They are suitable for mild to severe hearing loss. They are bigger than the ITC and have all the controls functions on the hearing aid itself. You can also get these aids with an optional remote control. They may have bigger batteries than the ITC aids and are easier to handle and manage.
BTE – Behind The Ear Digital Hearing Aids
These are digital hearing aid units that can sit snugly behind the ears. They can be fitted to people having mild to profound hearing loss. The size of the hearing aid depends on the power of the aids. The more power, the larger the size of the aid. These aids are easier to handle and manage, especially for people with poor dexterity and eyesight. They are also more robust and less prone to occlusion problems and repairs. They can come with all the function switches on the hearing aid and also have an optional remote control. They come in a variety of different coloured cases.
Open Slim Tube Digital BTE aids
These are smaller digital hearing aids that sit behind the ear and are virtually invisible as the sound is transmitted to the ear canal via a thin transparent tube. They are suitable for mild to severe hearing loss and useful for people with low frequency normal or near normal hearing and high frequency hearing loss. They can also come with remote controls.
Spectacle (Eyeglass) Hearing Aids
Eyeglass hearing aids are classified as: Bone conduction eyeglass hearing aids Air conduction eyeglass hearing aids In Bone conduction aids the amplifier circuit transforms captured sounds into vibrations. A vibrator positioned at the far end of the temple transmits the vibrations to the mastoid bone, and then on to the cochlea. This type of hearing aid is suitable for conductive hypoacusis or mixed type of hearing losses, or in cases when it is physically impossible to use an air conduction eyeglass hearing aid (otitis media, otosclerosis, radical mastoidectomy, otorrhea, stenosis of the canal etc.) Bone conduction eyeglass hearing aids do not require anything in the ear (no tubes, no ear moulds, no shells), and are perfectly hidden in the temple of the eyeglasses. Air conduction eyeglasses capture sounds that reach the tympanic membrane through a custom built ear mould, connected to the temple and fitted in the ear canal. This aid is suitable for fitting even profound hearing losses.

Hearing Aid Features

Channels

Our speech mainly falls in the range of 250Hz to 8KHz. Different channels help to modulate speech sounds at different frequency regions. A hearing aid with many channels offers more control over amplifying speech sounds at individual frequencies.

Programmes

These are like having bifocal glasses. In every day hearing you may encounter different listening situations such as watching TV, listening to a friend in a busy market place and talking on the telephone. Each situation may require the hearing aid to process the sound in a different way. Various hearing aid programmes enable you to change the response of the hearing aid depending on the listening situation you are in, either manually or automatically.

Directional Microphones (automatic or manual)

This feature enables the hearing aid's microphone to amplify the voices of those you are speaking with, while actively reducing the levels of background noise. It is mainly useful in crowded situations and public gatherings. Automatic directional microphones constantly analyse the environment to automatically select the best sound processing strategy to use in noisy places.

Feedback Management

This feature actively switches on when feedback is detected (ie. whistling of the aid) and reduces or eliminates the feedback by actively reducing the gain in the specific frequency.

Telecoil

Data Logging

More recent digital hearing aids have this feature to store information on how the hearing aid has been used. This helps the hearing aid Audiologists to fine tune the hearing aid to best suit your needs. For example, if the hearing aid recorded that the volume had to be constantly turned up, the Audiologist may be able to improve the overall amplification of the aid during the next follow up visit.

Data Learning

Hearing aids are not glasses. The central auditory system takes time to get acclimatised to listening to sounds through the hearing aids. As all new users need some time to get used to their hearing aids, patients find it useful to be eased into amplification. Therefore, experience levels can be set so that the user gradually achieves the full amplification and sound processing over a period of time.

Hearing aid technology has become very sophisticated over the last few years. It is now insufficient to say that a hearing aid is simply 'digital'. There are many features, such as those explained above, that have advanced digital hearing aid technology. At Vida Percy Audiologists we will discuss your individual requirements to decide which hearing aid features are most suitable for you.