| Hearing aids have come a long way through the | | | | digitizing of the process that enables computers |
| years. The differences between digital hearing aids | | | | to be able to understand the commands required |
| of today and the old-fashioned trumpet held to | | | | to amplify and transmit sound. |
| the ear of decades ago are enormous. As hearing | | | | Adapting To Different Environments |
| aids shrank to fit first behind the ear, and later | | | | Another difference between a digital hearing aid |
| inside the ear, it was only a matter of time | | | | and a hearing aid that uses old technology is that |
| before a digital hearing aid made a difference in | | | | a digital hearing aid can be adjusted to adapt to |
| the hearing aid industry. | | | | different environments. A digital hearing aid can |
| What's Different About Digital Hearing Aids? | | | | adapt from an environment with a noisy |
| The differences in digital hearing aids from analog | | | | background to the environment of a person |
| hearing aids are similar to the difference between | | | | watching television at home alone in a quiet room. |
| analog telephones and digital phones. Analog | | | | Digital sound processing is simply more |
| phones worked by transmitting sound waves, and | | | | sophisticated than other technologies. |
| analog hearing aids worked the same way. Digital | | | | Lower Power Requirements |
| phones work by sending a digital signal - ones and | | | | Digital hearing aids also require less power needs |
| zeroes - and that is also how digital hearing aids | | | | than their analog counterparts. This saves the |
| work. | | | | user not only the cost of batteries, but also the |
| The difference between a digital hearing aid and | | | | inconvenience of changing batteries, and the |
| an analog hearing aid is in the way the acoustic | | | | indignity and disappointment of missing out on a |
| input information is coded and processed. Digital | | | | conversation. Analog hearing aids rely on custom |
| speech processing is considered to be a superior | | | | circuitry; they cannot be custom programmed, |
| technology over other methods of speech | | | | and they cost more. |
| processing. Digital processing means a computer, | | | | A digital hearing aid is the best hearing aid for |
| not a mechanical device, does the processing. | | | | seniors who are losing their hearing due to aging. |
| Computer programmers have proven that | | | | Digital sound processing provides the sophisticated |
| computers are good at performing routine, | | | | sound management techniques that do more than |
| repetitive tasks. | | | | merely amplify sound. Digital hearing aids make a |
| Converting sound to a digital signal and processing | | | | difference because they process the signal based |
| the signal is one of those routine tasks at which | | | | on speech patterns and do not just turn up the |
| computers excel. Digital speech processing is a big | | | | volume. |
| difference in digital hearing aids, because it is the | | | | |