Hi-tech advancements being made to hearing aids
Fortunately, more modern hearing aids aren't as uncomfortable to wear and look much sleeker as well when supporting a person's independence as they get older. They come complete with many technological advancements as well, with audiologist Dr Stephen Kirsch pointing out: "Because people are living and working longer, the need for hearing aids is actually on the rise. Computer chip technology has greatly improved, providing better audibility but not necessarily better intelligibility - yet - but there are other advancements, too."
Just two of the advancements which have been looked at to make hearing aids more hi-tech have been put under the spotlight by Living Independently in this blog post...
Understanding how smartphones and hearing aids can link up
Wearing and using a hearing aid can both be made a lot easier via the use of your smartphone. This is because a phone's app support can now allow someone who is using a hearing aid to adjust volume, alter sound amplification and create noise reduction through a few simple taps on their smartphone's screen. There are even some smartwatches available which can grant wearers the same functionality too.
Bearing this idea in mind, Livio's Thrive app is proving especially handy to those wearing a hearing aid. Once downloaded, the application enables users to handily setup geotagged memories for their hearing aids. As such, preferred settings can be automatically adjusted based on a hearing aid wearer returning to a location - a coffee shop that they visit on a daily basis, for instance.
How Bluetooth has helped make hearing aids more appealing
Bluetooth connectivity is available on both in-the-ear and behind-the-ear hearing aids today. Just take the devices on the market which can connect to products from Apple wirelessly via Bluetooth. Deemed ‘Made For iPhone' technology, the feature grants people the opportunity to listen to all audio that is coming from their iPhone, iPad or iPod gadgets directly via the hearing aids which they are wearing. They can even adjust the sound of the audio as they see fit, whether that is when taking a phone call, listening to music or trying to watch a movie or TV show.
You don't need to fear missing out on this concept if you haven't got a collection of Apple products either. Various manufacturers of hearing aids have taken the time to develop Bluetooth connection devices which are able to link up hearing aids to a wide variety of smartphones, mobile phones and tablet computers.
It's certainly clear that technology has provided a helping hand in making hearing aids even more appealing to people as they age, whether it's through an advancement that allows adjustments to be more easily made to a device or one which grants improvements into how audio from an entertainment device is received by a hearing aid.
Sources
https://www.hear.com/hearing-aids/technology/
https://www.which.co.uk/news/2019/02/hearing-aids-go-hi-tech-top-innovations-for-2019/
https://eu.usatoday.com/story/tech/columnist/saltzman/2018/07/20/hearing-aids-getting-better-bluetooth-and-apps/796632002/
https://www.actiononhearingloss.org.uk/live-well/our-community/our-blog/the-latest-in-hearing-aid-technology/