If you wear a hearing aid, you will already know about the life-changing benefits of this device. However, you may not be aware of the many extra features that can come with it.
Bluetooth technology
The extra connectivity of a Bluetooth hearing aid means that it can connect to your smartphone, which can vastly improve your experience. Your phone can be used as a remote control for your hearing aid, allowing you to adjust the volume or switch between different audio streams. The hearing aid can also be used to "tune in" to particular devices — it can directly pick up the signal from televisions, music systems or your phone so that you can listen in without worrying about being in the right position or whether you are disturbing anyone else.
Rechargeable batteries
Changing the batteries in a hearing aid can be a fiddly task. The batteries are small, difficult to handle and need to be changed regularly, which can be a particular issue if you have poor vision or problems with manual dexterity. Fortunately, rechargeable hearing aids are available that only have to be plugged in overnight, saving you from the problem of constantly installing new batteries.
Telecoil
This is a useful feature if you are often in public places with a hearing loop. The feature will silence any input from the microphone and will instead only transmit the sounds from the hearing loop. This will include the sounds you are trying to hear (for example, speech in a theatre) but will filter out the background noise that can make it hard to pick out the sounds you want. Hearing loops are often installed in airports, banks, churches and other places where it is important that you can accurately hear what is going on.
Wind reduction
This is very useful if you spend a lot of time outdoors. Noise from the wind can mask the sounds that you are trying to hear and make it difficult to hear conversations. A hearing aid with wind noise reduction will automatically detect when wind is present and will then filter out the sound at that frequency so that you will be able to carry on the conversation without the wind drowning it out.
These are just some of the features that can be included in hearing aids. Your audiologist will help you to decide which type of hearing aid is ideal for your own needs.
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