How Hearing Aids Are Evaluated

By Brenda Murphy


Another name for a hearing aid is a deaf aid. This is a gadget designed for use by deaf people to improve the ability to hear. In most countries, these devices are categorized as mechanical devices subject to regulation. A lot of evolution has occurred in hearing aids from being simple sound amplification devices that directed external sounds to ear canals to being computerized electroacoustic systems.

Sound is made more comfortable and intelligible by modern gadgets since they are computerized electroacoustic systems. The sound processing ability in them enable them to cancel wind and noise, highlight voice and partial region, and to shift frequencies. For the device to match the lifestyle, physical feature, and the degree of hearing loss in a person, it must be configured.

The devices need to be configured to match various aspects. The configuration is referred to as fitting and it is done by an audiologist. The quality of fitting done in the gadget often determines how beneficial the user finds it to be. It is vital to understand that deafness cannot be truly rectified by a deaf aid. The most the devices does it to increase accessibility to sound.

Two main factors minimize how effective these devices can be. The first factor relates to the loss of brain cells that process sound. This happens when stimulation is not provided to primary auditory cortex regularly. The loss in these cells occurs progressively as the level of deafness increases in a person. The second factor relates to the damage of hair cells within inner ears because of sensorineural hearing loss. With the loss of these hair cells, it becomes hard to discriminate sounds.

Evaluation of how effective a gadget is in compensating for hearing loss is done using various methods. Among the evaluation methods currently in use is audiometry. This evaluation is undertaken under laboratory conditions to measure the level of hearing in a person. The method tries to mimic the conditions in a real world to the highest degree. However, regardless of the mimicry, patient experience is still very different.

Three main dimensions are available for representing the outcome of the device. These dimensions are hearing aid usage, satisfaction, and aided speech recognition. The correctness of the adjustments done to the device can be measured through a method called real ear measurement, which is also called probe microphone measurements. This method uses a silicone probe tube microphone to assess the characteristics of amplification by the device near the eardrum.

Different types of these instruments have been invented. The devices vary in their size, circuitry, and power among other factors. Major modern types today include body worn aid, receiver in the canal aid, BTE cross system, behind the ear aid, and on-the-ear aid. Other types are BTE Bi cross system, extended wear deaf aid, earmolds, open-fit gadgets, disosable deaf aid, invisible in canal deaf aid, stethoscope deaf aids, and bone anchored devices.

In most cases, modern gadgets run on button cell zinc-air batteries. These batteries come in five key standards. Mercury batteries used to be common in older models. There are also manufacturers who make modern devices that run on rechargeable of long-life disposable batteries.




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