The Implementation of Technology in Modern Hearing Aids
Gone are the days of large bulky hearing aids which always get in the way of patients trying to live their lives. Because of the influential technology that Miracle-Ear, America’s most trusted provider of hearing aids, has implemented over the past five to ten years, hearing aids are rapidly growing smaller yet stronger.
With over 1200 hearing centers throughout the United States, including many in the Cleveland, OH area, Miracle-Ear can provide a solution for every patient’s hearing loss. And with many of the recent technological advancements in the hearing aid industry, helping people hear again has become a very easy and simple process.
There have been so many recent improvements to hearing aids, from miniaturization to digitalization, computer programming and even customization. One new and significant piece of technology that Miracle-Ear has implemented is the Open Canal technology in their modern, Open Canal hearing aid. Open Canal technology allows the modern components of the hearing aid to be hidden both over the ear and deep inside the ear canal. In addition to being virtually invisible, Open Canal hearing aids have several acoustic advantages, including the elimination of the plugged feeling many patients experience with hearing aids as well as the elimination of squealing or feedback that many patients also report experiencing.
The majority of hearing aids can also be digitally programmed to meet the exact level of a patient’s hearing loss. When hearing aids first came on to the market decades ago, the only method of adjustment for them was a knob that patients would turn so the volume could be louder or softer. Now, everything is computerized, so any type of adjustment in hearing levels is done immediately from a computer. Hearing aids can be adjusted based on the patient’s specific level of hearing and their listening and hearing needs.
Modern hearing aids can also be customized in such a way that the patient wearing them can hear certain noises over other sounds or noises. For example, if a patient is a bus driver, they can customize their hearing aid to focus more on noises behind them rather than what’s in front of them.
Fitting hearing aids on patients has also become a quicker and easier process as the result of technological improvements. Hearing aids can actually be fit almost instantly, due to technology that can make a silicone impression of the inside of the ear canal. That hardened silicone impression is then put into a scanning device and emailed to the manufacturer immediately; the manufacturer will then take those impressions and create the hearing aid for the patient and send it back to their Miracle-Ear hearing center. This process cuts down a lot of the wait time the patient has to experience waiting for their hearing aid to start their new life, and also vastly improves customer satisfaction.