Hearing Aids

Siemens offers a wide range of aids for the hearing impaired. One of the most important aids they offer is the Siemens Centra Active. A person would no longer have to be limited because of an active lifestyle if they chose this hearing aid. It is protected against excessive moisture caused by the menopausal hot flashes, which has created havoc with many hearing aid users because of the unusual sweating that occurs during this time. If you are the type of person who enjoys working in your garden or spending time outside during the heat of the summer, you’ll perspire at some point. Your hearing aid must be able to stand up to the excess perspiration. If you want to just be outside watching your children play, this will help ease your limitations and allow you and your children more quality time together because you won’t have to worry about your hearing aid conking out on you when you start to sweat from the summer heat! This amazing little instrument has a clip-on microphone cover to protect it from moisture, dust, and extra-tiny particles such as pollen. Pollen dust can be thick and annoying during the spring and could be a hindrance to your hearing aid that is not protected against it. Another awesome development Siemens has access to is the charger. Batteries have long been a source of frustration for hearing aid wearers, especially if you aren’t able to get new ones when you need them most. Battery chargers have stepped outside the boundaries of video recorders, digital cameras, and cell phones to reach the field of the hearing impaired. Those who were limited by batteries can now extend their capabilities with the Centra Active Charger, which will greatly help active hearing aid wearers. Five hours of charging can be done as you sleep because the smart little charger shuts off when it’s done. You’ll get a full day of use and onto into the evening. Some of the other great products Siemens offers are as follows: 1. Siemens Acuris Life-the first wireless aid, an open canal aid, has flexible tubes with soft tips, 3 memory settings, 16 channels, 3 year warranty, $1300 2. 2. Siemens Centra Active-water-resistant, rechargeable, optional charger ($150), comes in 11 colors, $1600 3. Siemens Cielo 2 Life 4. Siemens Cielo DIR BTE 5. Siemens Cielo Life 6. Siemens Artis 2 Life Some of the tests performed to determine the best hearing aid for your degree of hearing loss include: whispered speech, tuning fork, audiometry, otoa coustic, emissions and auditory brainstem response. An audiologist (someone who is trained to evaluate and treat hearing defects) can best determine which type of hearing aid is the best type for you. Sometimes there is added bone growth which interferes with the transmission of sound waves. It can be stopped or reversed with surgery 70% of the time. Even so, a hearing aid may be necessary until you can have the surgery, or it may be necessary if you do have the surgery and suffer still from a certain degree of hearing loss.

You have just realized you have hearing loss. Or, you have recently gained the ability to do something about it. Now you have to sort through all the different styles, models, and manufacturers to find the right ones for you. You can no doubt get some help from your audiologist, but if you want to be an informed consumer, you will want to learn to compare hearing aids for yourself. When you do compare hearing aids, the first question is whether you want to get analog or digital hearing aids. Analog are the least expensive by far. These hearing aids simply receive a signal from a microphone, amplify it, and send the louder sound on to the ear. It’s as simple as that. There is a middle ground between analog and digital. These are sometimes called digital programmable, although they are not 100 percent digital, or they are called analog programmable. The idea here is that it is indeed an analog hearing aid. It just has the advantage of a certain amount of customization in programming through the use of computer software. This can give you a variety of settings you can manually switch to accommodate your listening preferences in different listening situations. The settings can be changed by reprogramming at any time. When you compare hearing aids,these are more expensive than the regular analog ones, but less so than fully digital ones. Fully digital hearing aids are the most expensive, and when you compare hearing aids you will find many reasons why this is so. The difference in sound quality is like the difference you get when you go to digital music recordings from old fashioned record albums. This is done through DSP, or digital signal processing. There are differences in the programming as well. One thing to notice when you compare hearing aids is how many channels or bands it has. This is important because if your hearing loss is not the same for all frequencies, you will want different frequencies adjusted differently. Some people may only need a couple of bands while others may need several. It is also nice to know if a hearing aid has directional microphones. If it does, there are two microphones that emphasize sounds in front of you rather than behind you. Some models have a switch so that you can turn this feature on and off. Another way to compare hearing aids is by taking into account how many preset programs there are to switch between. You might want different programs for different aspects of your life, like home and work environments, and the surroundings at your favorite free time activities. Compare hearing aids by noting which ones are “smart” hearing aids. These have the capability to learn your preferences by the way you use them when you get them. These are easy to operate because, after awhile, the hearing aid automatically sets itself the way you usually set it yourself. Other features are reduced feedback and wind noise, and the ability to use the device with phones or even mobile phones. In the end, you will probably talk it over with your audiologist before you make your final decision. It’s nice to go in to that talk armed with some facts of your own. That is why it’s in your best interest to compare hearing aids yourself.

Many of the excellent hearing aids come in a variety of styles including BTE (behind the ear), ITE (in the ear), ITC (in the canal), MC (mini canal), and CIC (completely in the canal). Some manufacturers, though, make special models that are specifically designed with the usual user of BTE hearing aids in mind. Oticon, for instance, makes the Sumo DM with plenty of power to amplify sound for those with greater hearing loss. With the increased ability to amplify comes the possibility of voices that don’t sound weak or distorted. Its design also conserves battery life, and even when the batteries do start to run down, the Sumo DM’s performance doesn’t suffer. This is a good practical choice for the BTE hearing aid wearer with significant hearing loss. For a high-tech solution, try the Widex Senso BTE hearing aids. These have all the fancy features. They are fully digital. They process sound at an extremely fast rate, which is not true for all digital models. They process it in three bands. They analyze the signal, regulate it within each frequency, process the signal and send it through to the speakers. These BTE hearing aids separate speech from noise and put the emphasis on the speech sounds. Also, they have a great system for eliminating recruitment. This is a phenomenon in people with hearing loss where at first they can’t hear you at all, and then you speak just a little louder and suddenly they feel as if you’re shouting at them. These BTE hearing aids are also programmed to deal with feedback. They come with directional microphones on each hearing aid. They reduce the noises that are more constant in your environment, like the hum of a refrigerator. And, these BTE hearing aids are also available in special models that have more power for the people with more profound hearing loss. One type of BTE hearing aid that is made by several manufacturers is the open ear BTE aid. These are very lightweight and comfortable. The ear mold often comes in designer colors. The aids are equipped with extremely thin tubing for their ear hooks. The actual aid compartment itself that sits behind the ear may be so small and light that it’s barely noticeable. For example, the Siemens Prisma BTE hearing aids weigh only two grams, but still have two microphones and a couple of memories that you can switch by pushing a button. The Starkey Aries BTE hearing aids are also extremely small. The open ear hearing aids have the added bonus of not blocking your ears. Many people are very uncomfortable having their ears shut off the way they are with most hearing aids. With the open ear hearing aid the ear has room to breathe, so to speak. Many also come with nanocoating. This is a covering substance that repels foreign matter such as sweat, dirt, and water. Each kind of hearing aid is advantageous for someone. If you decide that BTE hearing aids are your best decision, explore the options carefully. There are many choices available within that category.

Many of the excellent hearing aids come in a variety of styles including BTE (behind the ear), ITE (in the ear), ITC (in the canal), MC (mini canal), and CIC (completely in the canal). Some manufacturers, though, make special models that are specifically designed with the usual user of BTE hearing aids in mind. Oticon, for instance, makes the Sumo DM with plenty of power to amplify sound for those with greater hearing loss. With the increased ability to amplify comes the possibility of voices that don’t sound weak or distorted. Its design also conserves battery life, and even when the batteries do start to run down, the Sumo DM’s performance doesn’t suffer. This is a good practical choice for the BTE hearing aid wearer with significant hearing loss. For a high-tech solution, try the Widex Senso BTE hearing aids. These have all the fancy features. They are fully digital. They process sound at an extremely fast rate, which is not true for all digital models. They process it in three bands. They analyze the signal, regulate it within each frequency, process the signal and send it through to the speakers. These BTE hearing aids separate speech from noise and put the emphasis on the speech sounds. Also, they have a great system for eliminating recruitment. This is a phenomenon in people with hearing loss where at first they can’t hear you at all, and then you speak just a little louder and suddenly they feel as if you’re shouting at them. These BTE hearing aids are also programmed to deal with feedback. They come with directional microphones on each hearing aid. They reduce the noises that are more constant in your environment, like the hum of a refrigerator. And, these BTE hearing aids are also available in special models that have more power for the people with more profound hearing loss. One type of BTE hearing aid that is made by several manufacturers is the open ear BTE aid. These are very lightweight and comfortable. The ear mold often comes in designer colors. The aids are equipped with extremely thin tubing for their ear hooks. The actual aid compartment itself that sits behind the ear may be so small and light that it’s barely noticeable. For example, the Siemens Prisma BTE hearing aids weigh only two grams, but still have two microphones and a couple of memories that you can switch by pushing a button. The Starkey Aries BTE hearing aids are also extremely small. The open ear hearing aids have the added bonus of not blocking your ears. Many people are very uncomfortable having their ears shut off the way they are with most hearing aids. With the open ear hearing aid the ear has room to breathe, so to speak. Many also come with nanocoating. This is a covering substance that repels foreign matter such as sweat, dirt, and water. Each kind of hearing aid is advantageous for someone. If you decide that BTE hearing aids are your best decision, explore the options carefully. There are many choices available within that category.