digital and analog hearing aids

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Digital and Analog Hearing Aids

There are two types of hearing aids

available on the market today-

analog and digital. While they are

vary and price, circuitry,

performance, and the way they process sound, both

have the same three parts.

The microphone on the aids is the part that gathers

the sound waves in the air and changes them to

electrical energy. The amplifier increases the

strength of the sound wave, and then the receiver

converts the electrical impulse back to sound energy.

Analog hearing instruments basically have the ability

to turn all the sounds the wearer would hear louder.

These hearing aids don’t have the technology in them



to differentiate different sounds, which can most of

the time leads to some sounds- usually in the low

frequencies- being too loud, while others still are not

loud enough.

Some analog hearing aids now utilize a program

button, making the aid “Programmable.” Byers must

be careful when seeing the word “Programmable” as

many think that this word is interchangeable with

digital.

However, a programmable analog hearing aid simply

has a few different programs installed that the user

can go back and forth between. This DOES NOT MEAN

that the hearing instruments are set to the patients

hearing loss.



Digital hearing aids convert sound in a different way

from analog instruments, but almost all are

programmable as well, whether they automatically

adjust for different environments or utilize a program

button.

Digital aids take the incoming sound and change it to

a digital format before processing the signal and then

changing it back to an analog sound that is delivered

to the user.

These digital circuits allow the hearing aids to be

customized to the user’s loss, allowing the troubling

frequencies the user cannot hear to be amplified while

the sounds that the user can hear well are not

amplified as much.

The more channels a digital hearing instrument

utilizes allows more customization and flexibility in



listening environments. Channels are different

frequency ranges that are tested during the user’s

hearing exam, and the more channels that are

present allow much more comfort and flexibility in

different environments.

While the number of channels available on hearing

aids differs from manufacture and instrument, this is

only one component of a digital instrument.

However, some might agree that this is one of the

most important differences between analog and

digital aids, as it allows the wearer to benefit from

amplification comfortably in different environments.

digital and analog hearing aids

Technology