Digital Hearing Aids

Analog hearing aids are a thing of the past and the future is all about digital. There are many advantages of digital hearing aids over analog hearing aids, and this article will discuss them for you.

Advantages of Digital Hearing Aids

-Digital is far more comfortable than analog. High intensity sounds are a problem for those wearing analog hearing aids compared to digital. There is still some discomfort on digital aids, but it has been fixed for the most part and there is a noticeable difference. Digital aids reduce the intensity of environmental sounds which will make things more comfortable for you.

-Noise reduction favors digital. Digital hearing devices are able to reduce noise gain from low frequencies. There have been studies of the noise reduction that you actually gain from digital hearing devices, and while the results are mixed the experts all agree that you are able to improve speech recognition.

-Feedback reduction is far better in digital than analog. The feedback reduction system is advanced in digital so moderate feedback has been eliminated through a cancellation filter. If you are bothered by the jaw movement when someone is talking but you hear what they are saying later, this feedback reduction will eliminate that.

-Speech enhancement favors digital. Specific segments of speech have increased intensity with digital aids. Digital speech enhancement technology is now being added to hearing aids and while the effectiveness has not been studied as of yet, one can assume that it will make listening to speech better than on analog aids.

-Directional microphones have been added to digital aids. There was some trouble developing the technology of directional microphones into digital aids, but it has been worked out and the advantages of these microphones are amazing. When you put these microphones with a DSP, the benefits you receive are far enhanced.

However, it is important to note that there are some disadvantages to digital aids. For one, the price of these aids is a lot higher than analog aids. For some the increased price is not worth the advantages you gain. Another problem digital aids are facing is there are still bugs that need to be worked out but there is a small list of people who are willing to volunteer to help fix the bugs. Until the bugs are all worked out many people are avoiding them.

ADVANTAGES OF DIGITAL HEARING AIDS

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