My BasketHearing Aids: How To Choose The Right One
When selecting which path to go down when it comes to choosing the right hearing aid for you, many people believe that it depends solely on the results of your hearing test with your audiology team. While your hearing test does play an important role in ensuring your hearing aid is well-matched to your hearing needs, it’s actually only one part of the equation and the considerations you must take into account when looking over your options and determining which hearing aid is going to be best for you.
Here are a few of the other factors we recommend considering when selecting the best hearing aid for you together with your hearing care professional.
Consider Your Hearing Loss Severity
How severe your hearing loss is plays an important consideration in ensuring you get a hearing aid that is capable of meeting your hearing amplification requirements. If you have mild to moderate hearing loss, you’ll generally have a wider range of options for hearing aids that can meet your hearing loss prescription requirements, whereas if you have severe to profound hearing loss, you may be more restricted on the types of devices you can use. This doesn’t mean that you can’t use a more discreet option, it just means that the receiver used in your hearing aid will need to be very carefully selected based on its ability to create the amount of power that you need for your specific hearing loss prescription.
The severity and configuration of your hearing loss also dictates whether you may benefit from a custom earmould. Those with severe to profound hearing loss tend to benefit most from a custom mould that can capture enough of the sound and amplify it to best support your hearing.
Consider How You Cope With Background Noise
The next consideration is how your hearing performs in situations where there is a lot of background noise, which can vary greatly from person to person. If you struggle to differentiate the sounds you want to hear from a lot of background noise, then your hearing aids should be capable of giving you access to other accessories and features that will help you hear better when there is background noise. This is measured with an additional assessment by your hearing care professional, and additional features to support you include having a telecoil inside of the hearing aids or wireless connectivity to a remote listening device. This is something your hearing care professional will discuss with you so you understand all the options and can make the best decision for your circumstances.
Consider Your Lifestyle
Your hearing aids must also be matched to your lifestyle and what your personal hearing needs look like on a day-to-day basis, having the right features to best support your hearing as you go about your regular activities. This involves considering a range of factors such as whether you have any vision issues or finger dexterity issues, whether you attend movies or the theatre, whether you have problems talking on the phone - and a range of other preferences and circumstances.
Sometimes, even the absence of one important hearing aid feature in relation to your lifestyle can mean that you gain notably less benefit from your hearing aids, which is why it’s important to work with an experienced hearing care professional to consider all the different factors to determine whether a specific hearing aid will be right for you, instead of going with ‘generalised’ recommendations that don’t consider you as a person.
Consider What Level Of Technology Is Really Needed
The instant assumption is that having a higher level of technology will, in most cases, help optimise your hearing across a varied range of circumstances. While this is true, the decision on what level of technology you need in your hearing aid should always be very person-specific - and it’s not always necessary to jump to the highest level of technology with the highest price tag. If you live a relatively quiet lifestyle and rarely find yourself in complex hearing situations (situations where there are multiple sources of sound coming at you at once, competing background noise, or challenging acoustic environments), then opting for a higher level of technology may not be necessary.
Consider Your Preferred Aesthetics
It takes many people a significant amount of time to select the best ‘style’ of prescription glasses that they feel suit them (while meeting their vision prescription needs) - so don’t be afraid of having style and your personal preferences play an important role in deciding which hearing aid to go with, as long as they meet your hearing needs. Hearing aids come in different sizes, colours and shapes - and also vary in whether they’re positioned behind the ear or inside the ear. Along with appearance, you may find that their comfort will vary depending on the type of hearing aid you choose - so take into consideration all these factors.
How Do Hearing Aids Work?
Hearing aids consist of a microphone, amplifier, and speaker. The hearing aid picks up on sound vibrations through the microphone, and the sounds are converted into electrical signals that are sent to the amplifier. The amplifier increases the power of these signals and then sends them through the speaker to the ear. The hair cells within the ear detect the louder vibrations of these sounds and convert them to neural signals which are sent to the brain, which interprets them as what you hear..
If a person has damaged hair cells, also known as sensorineural hearing loss, which can be caused by disease, ageing, medications or injury, hearing aids such as this can be very effective. The greater the degree of damage the person has to their hair cells, the more severe the hearing loss, and the louder the hearing aid amplification will need to be. If a person has widespread damage to the hair cells, a hearing aid may not be effective, and your hearing care professional will be able to discuss other treatment and management options.
What Types Of Hearing Aids Are Available?
Here at Kevin Paisley, we have a wide range of hearing aid styles available that are suitable for a range of hearing loss severities. They come with many different features available, meaning you have plenty of options to meet your hearing prescription, your preferred technology level, and your preferred style and aesthetics. See some of the styles of hearing aids that we have available in-clinic here, and learn more about their benefits and considerations here.
To get started with a hearing test or get assessed for hearing aids and start the journey to better hearing, book an appointment with our friendly hearing care professionals at your local Kevin Paisley centre here.
