Choosing Digital Hearing Aid over Analog
There are many different types of hearing aids on the market today to fit the different needs and designs desired by hearing impaired individuals. One of the main choices to be made is to go with a digital hearing aid or an analog hearing aid. Analog hearing aids are the oldest type of hearing aid on the market, having been around since hearing aids were developed. Although batteries tend to last longer in analog hearing aids since there is less electronic equipment within it, digital hearing aids are the best choice since they have many more features that are beneficial to those who have lost their hearing.
Benefits
Digital hearing aids have better gain processing than analog hearing aids since it has more flexible gain processing capabilities. This means that individuals wearing the hearing aid will not experience as much discomfort in their ear when high intensity sounds are going on around them. Digital hearing aids have more channels available to them and more compression capabilities so it weeds out the low level environmental noises and gives more comfort to the individual wearing it.
In addition, there is less feedback in a digital hearing aid than in an analog hearing aid since there are more filters built into it, such as the cancellation system. This means that users will not have the feedback from jaw movement or being close to certain objects that analog hearing aid users will experience from time to time. Another helpful feature is the use of directional microphones in digital hearing aids. This helps to pinpoint the sounds that are beneficial for the individual to hear and to reduce the environmental noise that is picked up as well. For instance, in a quiet environment, the microphone may be working omni-directionally since there is not very much sound to pick up on in that environment. If the individual then walks into a crowded, noisy room and begins to speak to a friend, the microphone in a digital hearing aid will switch to a directional microphone so that it better picks up on the person's voice that is in close proximity and reduces the sounds of all the other people in the room.
Digital hearing aids also come in a variety of different sizes and shapes to match the desires and needs of the individuals who use them. They can be placed completely in the ear canal, partially into it, or in the ear, which means that it fills the ear cup with the device and has a part that goes into the canal. It also comes in the traditional style that has one piece in the ear and one behind it.
First Introduced In 1987
The year 1987 saw the introduction of the digital hearing aids and at that time there were just two manufacturers of these hearing aids that also used up significant amounts of energy and consumers that had been using analog hearing aids were loathe to try something new and so the initial response to digital hearing aids was only lukewarm. However, manufacturers of such hearing aids persevered and introduced better options with higher quality sound and this had the effect of winning over more customers.
Now-a-days, it is hard to imagine why people did not immediately take to using digital hearing aids. Old habits die hard - but, everyone today has in fact made the switch to these digital masterpieces. Modern digital hearing aids are smaller in size as well as have better functionality and almost every audiologist now recommends these types of hearing aids to their customers.
Digital hearing aids work pretty much the same as did the analog hearing aids and it is in fact not possible to separate the functioning of one from the other. Digital technology however means that sound waves are captured not as analog signals but are converted to numbers that provide more accuracy. It is in fact the superiority of digital technology that helps make digital hearing aids better than analog hearing aids.
