Download - Digital and Analog Hearing Aids
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6468 Holly Rd. Corpus Christi, Texas 78412 (361) 356-4003
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
Website: HearingAidCompany Blog: Hearing Aids Corpus Christi,TX
6468 Holly Rd. Corpus Christi, Texas 78412 (361) 356-4003
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.
Website: HearingAidCompany Blog: Hearing Aids Corpus Christi,TX
6468 Holly Rd. Corpus Christi, Texas 78412 (361) 356-4003
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
Website: HearingAidCompany Blog: Hearing Aids Corpus Christi,TX
6468 Holly Rd. Corpus Christi, Texas 78412 (361) 356-4003
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.