What are the different types of hearing aids?

Analog Hearing Aids
An analog hearing aid is a basic hearing aid.  The audiologist will be limited in the number of adjustments he or she can make in customizing the fit.  Analog hearing aids are most appropriate for people who do most their listening in quiet environments.  Many manufacturers of hearing aids are moving away from analog hearing aids in favor of digital hearing aids.  Analog hearing aids are typically less expensive than digital hearing aids.  Analog hearing aids are available in all styles.

Digital Hearing Aids
These hearing aids have a tiny computer chip in them, enabling the audiologist to program the aid for a specific hearing loss.  Digital hearing aids take a sound wave and break it into small, discreet bits of information.  Those bits are then amplified before being converted back into sound.  Breaking the information into these small bits of information allows a digital hearing aid to be better customized for an individual’s hearing loss.  Digital hearing aids can also make sounds more comfortable by amplifying soft sounds but not loud sounds.  Digital hearing aids can be equipped with many different features/enhancements, which will affect the cost.  Some digital hearing aids are equipped with more than one microphone, one that picks up sound in front and one that picks up sound from behind the person.  The hearing aid can then be programmed to identify sound behind the person as ‘noise’ and block it out, placing the focus on the sound in front of the person.

An advantage of digital hearing aids is that they are self-adjusting, so most do not have volume wheels.  This is ideal for a person with mobility or vision problems.  Digital hearing aids range in price.  The more features or enhancements included in the aid will increase the cost to nearly 3 times that of an analog hearing aid.  Digital hearing aids are available in all styles.