Posts tagged ‘Hearing Aids’
Reinventing sound – Analogue Vs Digital hearing aids
Hearing aids have been conventionally built from analogue circuits till date, and digital circuits are a superior and a new venture into the hearing aids market. A hearing aid is designed and tested such that it produces the required amount of amplification of existing sound such that a person hard of hearing will be able to make out the speech and noises around him clearly. Analogue and digital converters do the same job but slightly differently. Any hearing aid has the three components which are a microphone to capture the sound, an amplifier to increase the volume of the sound, and a receiver to receive the signals from the amplifier and transmits it to the ear.
An analogue circuit receives this sound signal from the microphone as continuously varying electric signals and feeds them to the amplifier which increases the sound according to requirements. It follows a method called automatic gain control by which it amplifies only quiet sounds but does not amplify already loud sounds so that the speaker does not face discomfort. Digital circuitry is a new technology to be used in the hearing aids. Here the microphone sends signals in the form of bits of data which is again converted into numbers which can be operated on an inbuilt chip and hence it is easy to manipulate the sound in almost any way.
Digital circuitry is much better in operation with higher quality sounds and more accuracy than any other thing in the market and hence it is costlier than analogue. Due to the amplification of the entire sound in analogue circuitry people who use it mostly complain about not able to hear anything due to the loud noise it generates. Digital circuitry has a solution for this problem where we can reduce the background noise appreciably enough to hear the person clearly and hence can distinguish between sound and speech 
efficiently. Digital circuits, unlike analogue, also safeguard the existing hearing level of the people without damaging the ears even more and has additional features to offer at the cost of extra money, and it can be noted that it is worth the extra buck. All said and done when compared to digital, analogue happens to be more robust, costing lesser than digital and hence it still has a strong foothold in the hearing aid market.
There are various hearing aid brands out there, one very reliable name is the Bernafon hearing aids brand.
Hearing aids costs
When hearing aids were first brought out they were extremely pricey and costly and could be used by only a few people who could afford it. A number of small companies stepped in to reverse this trend and by using environment friendly materials and cost effective technology they have started the trend of providing hearing aids at low costs. These products are very easily available on the internet. A number of companies are listed on the internet which offers medical equipment at really affordable prices. The same is applicable for hearing aids. But what should be remembered when buying products directly form the internet is to search for tags of authenticity and licenses. Also product quality should be ascertained. A word of caution: digital hearing aids should only be used if a qualified doctor suggests so. Thus the opinion of a doctor is very important in this case.
Medical equipment is usually very costly and sometimes becomes unaffordable for the common man to purchase or use. To provide a solution to this problem a number of companies have stepped in to ensure that medical equipment is available at low costs so that it becomes affordable for the common man unlike boots hearing aids. This ensures that medical services are not concentrated only among the wealthy and the affluent.
Hearing aids can thus easily be purchased on the internet using credit cards for nominal costs, but it must certify all the product quality standards and must be appropriately standardized and certified. The internet is a storehouse and reservoir of information and using the medium of the internet one can find out what hearing aid is best for one’s condition. One can also conduct assessments as to the event of impairments that the person is facing. Hearing loss may lead to frustration and depression. So therapists might need to be consulted in the event of hearing loss.