HEARING AID TECHNOLOGY

Hearing aid technology



Hearing aid technology

Introduction

Bilateral sensorineural hearing loss involves impairment in hearing. In this disease, the cochlear or auditory nerve exhibits impaired function. This type of hearing loss has several ways of presentations, ranging from mild to profound in severity and include high pitch and low pitch patterns in audiograms. People of any age group are affected. The disease present some dilemmas which include an increasing number and complexity of tests, the increased cost of medical care, interpretation of results, outweighing of cost of test for ruling out correct diagnosis etc. Bilateral sensorineural hearing loss presents as a value greater than 90 dB, 1-2/1000. Genetic cases include 50% of the individuals.

The audiograms , OAE and ABR confirms the diagnosis. However, when patients seek treatment, the best available option is the use of hearing aid technology, preferred by every audiologist. Being widely used, it is one of the most common and significant device used for treating the impaired hearing of the client suffering any type of hearing loss. Conservative treatments have also been offered in this regard including idebenone and vitamin E supplements. Surgical interventions have also been devised that include cochlear implants which stimulate the cochlear nerve directly. However, hearing aids are still the treatment of choice for hearing loss.

Although hearing aids are widely used to treat the sensorineural hearing loss, being a machine it present some errors and clients often present with several complaints regarding use of the device. Three areas of difficulties presented by the clients most commonly are discussed here.

Background noise

Hearing aids are useful devices, not only for the diseased but also for the elderly, who experience hearing loss due to any underlying cause or aging. Although useful, a potential flaw is attributed to them that is the lack to entirely filter the noise or sounds that a person has to hear from the surroundings and which is not required. At times a person has to concentrate on a particular speech, the neighboring person is saying, without being distracted by the background or surrounding noises but, because they lack a natural system, hearing aids are unable block these background noises. Normal hearing persons also have to face a similar condition that is, distraction by background noise. This fact has been highlighted recently by Patricia B. Kricos. In an article he says that although tremendous advances have been made in hearing aid technology, but background noises and distraction still exist as a problem even with the most recent digital noise reduction circuitry. She states that troublesome surrounding noise as the noise that interrupts the ability to hear, interpret, or concentrate to the sound that a person wants to hear.”

These unwanted noises, as per Dr. Kricos' statement, can predominantly trouble hearing aid users who have got new devices. During the initial weeks because for a long time, they might not have heard daily noises such as clattering dishes, screeching brakes, and rustling papers. Among most of the long-time hearing aid users exhibit that the rapid ...