Who Should I See For Hearing Aids?
Richard said his new digital hearing aids "sounded like crap." He was currently wearing his previous, 7 year old aids which he said sounded much better than his new digital hearing aids. Richard’s new hearing aids were cutting edge, high technology instruments, paid for by the Veterans Administration. What went wrong?
In every industry, technology is creating new opportunities for better results. Along with that capability comes more chances to really screw things up. That’s because technology creates more choices, not only be helpful ones, but also potential complications.
Complexity in Hearing Aids
In the field of hearing aids, for example, a digital hearing aid might have the following separate adjustments:
5 choices of which fitting formula to select for target gain
4 or more compression bands
12 frequency bands for gain
4 different memories
5 settings for the knee-point for each compression band
5 settings for compression ratio for each compression band
3 choices for output control methods
2 different variations of noise control algorithms
Assume a computer programmer was sharp enough to interpret the instructions given him by an audiologist or engineer when setting up the computer program. The program is expected to select the best fit for a particular hearing loss. Then the person fitting the hearing aid and setting it up is expected to make the correct choices during the initial fit procedure.
The Surprise Person Who Can Mess Up the System
Now the biggest variable of all enters the picture – the patient, who has his or her own subjective likes and dislikes, which may or may not have any correlation to whether they are hearing better or not. This adds an infinite number of “jokers” to the deck of possible results.
For example, a patient with a typical high frequency hearing loss may complain that people mumble, and don’t speak with clarity. When they are fit with a high frequency emphasis hearing aid, they are usually not used to hearing those sounds. If they complain the their instruments sound “too sharp and crisp”, and the aids are re-adjusted to alleviate that complain, the sound might be more comfortable, but less improvement in understanding speech may result.
The Key Person to Good Results
The one person who has to be aware of the client’s hearing loss, the capabilities of the hearing aids, and the results is the fitter, dispenser or audiologist that has been charged with the success of adjusting them correctly.
In Richard’s case - the veteran who was hearing poorly with new, expensive hearing aids - the person who tested his hearing had been transferred, and the new specialist was just out of school, with very limited experience fitting and adjusting the brand of hearing aid that had been ordered for him.
The Moral of the Story
Take away this piece of wisdom from what you’ve just read. What is much more important than which brand of hearing aid you purchase? It is who you select to work with you and adjust and fine tune them for you. An experienced “craftsman” with many years of experience and good communications skills can make an inexpensive hearing aid sound pretty good. But a “newbie” or non-technical person can really mess up the sound and functions of a high end, expensive hearing aid. Find yourself and expert, then let him help you choose the brand of hardware.