Hearing aids: what are the types of hearing aids, prices, procedure of inserting

Doctor is examing patients ear

Hearing aids has got two types first one is so called in the ear (ITE) and scond one is called behind the ear (BTE). In the ear hearing aid is being worn in the canal and generally they are customed fit which is fitted based on an impression that is taken by your hearing care professional. There are types of this hearing aid that fits very deeply inside the ear canal while others are located closer to outer ear. The other one (BTE) this hearing aid sits completely behind on top of the outer ear with tubing that routes the sound down into the ear canal with the help of so called custom-fit earmold or sometimes dome style which doesn’t the whole ear canal opening. For both of those types most devices come with standard button hearing aid batteries and they must be exchanged between 3 to 20 days.

Let’s tallk about hearing aid prices. Hearing aids prices aren’t low well they are very high. Hearing aids cost start with $1,000 on even up to $6,000 for each device,but it depends on the level of technology. However it it is important to remember that in this price we have things like hearing test, consultation, initial fitting, and all follow up adjustments, routine cleanings and a warranty that can range from one to three years.

Is there a way to find cheap hearing aids?

If you are wondering if you can find some kind of alternative for hearing aid, here is the answer. While the hearing aid costs lot’s of money there is so called over the counter hearing aid. But they won’t work for everyone and they can be bought by everyone without consultations with hearing care professionals. Those devices may make life easier for people with mild to moderate hearing loss. So if you are looking for low cost hearing aids that may be the option for you.

Procedure of insering the hearing aids. Procedure of fitting the hearing aids has got 4 steps.

STEP ONE: this step is called hearing aid evaluation. In this step audiologist will conduct a hearing aid evaluation. The audiologist will record the softest sound you can hear at different pitches and figure out what level of sound is uncomfortably loud for you. This is also time for you to inform your audiologist what you are looking forward to do with your new hearing aids because it is your lifestyle that will affect your selection.

STEP TWO: This is the etap of choosing your hearing aids. Your hearing specialist will show you all the options you gonna have and also will help you choose the one that is gonna fit you the best. So make sure you are going to choose something that wilol mkae you feel comfortable with with using it on every day basis.

STEP THREE: This step is often called ear impressions. This step is all about taking impressions of your ears.

STEP FOUR: This step is all about programming and education. Maybe you thought that you will get your hearing aids at your first appointment but no at this appointment your hearing aids will be ordered. So after they arrived your hearing care provider will contact your hearing aids into computer and program them to meet your expectations after that you will need to show up to the appointment and test them out at this time you have an opportunity to say if there is anything wrong with them so it can be changed.

Hearing aid styles

There are few styles of hearing aids. Common heaing aids styles if we are talking about ITE there are styles like invisible in the canal (IIC) completely in canal (CIC) those two are the smallest ones and the ones that aren’t shown they are very discreet. Those styles are mostly the best fit for people with mild or people with moderately severe hearing loss. In this type of hearing aid there are also styles called in the canal (ITC) hearing aids and low profile hearing aids. In the canal is placed in the lower portion of the outer ear bowl which makes it easy to be used. They are a little bit bigger than IIC and CIC but still they are discreet and also has longer battery life and more features than IIC and CIC styles. Low profile hearing aids fill half the bowl of the outer ear to full-shell designs that takes almost whole outer ear bowl. This one is likely to have connectivity to wireless devices like phones (cool huh?). Let’s talk about BTE now styles for this type of hearing aids are receiver in the ear (RITE), behind the ear with earmold. The first one is an open fit hearing aid style that has the speaker built into an insertable ear dome, instead of the main body of the hearing aid. The microphone and processor are placed tiny case behind the ear. Behind the ear with earmold can be a good fit to any type of hearing loss. This style is usually available in models with wireless connectivity to devices and advanced technology.

How does hearing aids work

Hearing aids doesn’t work the same it all depends on the electronics used. There are 2 main typed of of electronics and they are called analog and digital. Analog hearing aids are are custom built for the client to meet all of his needs. This kind has got not only one but more of programs or hearing aid settings. This kind of hearing aid is mostly not that expensive like digital one. let’s go to the digital hearing aid. Digital hearing aids they can be programmed to even focus on sounds which coming from a one specific direction. This kind of hearing aids gives more possibilities to the audiologist to adapt the aid tothe person that is gonna use them and to certain listening environments.

One or two hearing aids, that’s the question

One hearing aid or two hearing aids that is a good question and hre is the answer to it. It all depends on what kind of a hearing loss you have, if you lost hearing in both of your ears then two hearing aids work perfectly with you (just because two of them are gonna make the sound sent to the brain looks more naturally).

Free online hearing test

This test is a really quick way to find out how well your hearing is. I’m sure that you are curious how does it work so first of all you will have to prepare for this a little bit, you will have too find quiet area, made a decition if you prefer to use your device speakers or headphones (headphones will give you more accure results because you won’t be hearing the background noise). This test will show you how good is your hearing with understanding speech in noise. This online test of course won’t replace the visitation at the hearing specialist.

Hearing loss

Hearing loss is very common thing especially with age. There can be many sings of hearing loss, for example when you are finding out that its hard for you to keep up with the conversation. Hearing loss is also known as hearing impairment. Impairment in hearing can show in any degree of possibility to apprehend sounds which are determined by audiometry to be below normal heaing thresholds. There are couple types of hearing loss like conductive hearing loss, sensorineural hearing loss, mixed hearing loss and central auditory processing disorder.

Man is trying to hear something out of cup

4 degree’s of hearing loss:

  • Mild hearing loss– person with this degree of hearing loss can hear some voice sounds but soft sounds are hard for them to heard,
  • Moderate hearing loss– person with moderate hearing loss has got big problems with hear speech (they almost hear no speech) while the other person is talking at a normal level,
  • Severe hearing loss- this kind of degree is known as the one where person diagnosed with it will not hear any speech but only some of loud noises,
  • Profound hearing loss- in this degree of a hearing loss person won’t hear any speech but only very loud sounds.

Side effects of wearing hearing aids

Side effects of wearing a hearing aids can show up if you aren’t using it in correct way which can bother you a lot. You can notice side effects as:

  • Headaches and tinnitus,
  • Skin irritation, soreness and discomfort,
  • Improper sound level and quality,
  • Itching in the ear canal,
  • Feedback.

But dont worry here are few tips which can help avoid those side effects. First tip is to:

  1. Make sure that your digital or analog hearing aid is the right one for your type of a hearing loss,
  2. Ensure that your hearing aid devices are fitted properly,
  3. Turn on all the settings that you need to feel comfortable with it,
  4. Take care of your medical devices appropriately,
  5. Get in touch with ypur audiologist for any resolutions.

Interesting facts about hearing aids

There are a lot of interesting facts about hearing aids that you may didn’t know about before, here are some of them. For example did you know that there are hearing aid apps? yes that’s right hearing app adds, hearing aid technology evoles more and more. Are you wondering what it is and how it is wokring? well this kind of apps are doing it’s work by telling the user how loud it is around him or her. Other apps can for example can do basic screening test to measure your hearing, and some let you in some way train your brain with hearing exercises. But the best app for hearing aid users is the one made by hearing aid manufacturers, they can connect with their hearing aids by the Bluetooth.

Hearing aids are made with so different styles and even colors so don’t be shy and dont cover hearing aids for example with hair, show it to teh world!

A person who isn’t able to hear as good as someone with normal hearing (and its hearing is in thresholds of 20 dB or better in both ears) is diagnosted with hearing loss.

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One thought on “Hearing aids: what are the types of hearing aids, prices, procedure of inserting

  1. I didn’t know that we can do online test to check out our hearing. Now for sure I will try it out. This article has so many interesting informations. Thank you so much for it. Great job!

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