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Analogue & digital hearing aids are completely different beasts. So… Switching from analogue to digital can be be a rewarding experience - the very latest digital technology can boost your hearing range in ways that older analogues never could. But, the differences in the technologies can pose problems.

Didn’t that used to be louder?

Analogue hearing aids amplify all sounds at the same level - this can make it hard for wearers to hear conversation when there is a lot of background noise. Digital hearing aids are much cleverer in that they’re able reduce the level of the background noise & make conversation easier to hear.

Due to their background-reducing capabilities you’ll find that when you first wear digital aids a lot of noise that was once loud to you is now quiet - this will more than likely make you think that the aids are not working correctly or that they have not actually been set at a high enough volume. Don’t worry. Listen to some one talking in a noisy situation & you should find that you’re able to hear them much more clearly than when you wore analogue aids.

Things will not sound the same

When you switch from analogue to digital, be prepared for things to sound differently. This will be particularly true if you’re wearing an older pair of analogues. I found that people’s voices sounded differently through digital aids, especially my own - they were higher-pitched & easier to understand but the difference from what I was used to hearing before took some time to adjust to.

Programming

When your hearing aid vendor receives your new digital hearing aids from the manufacturer they will come setup for your audiogram. Even though this is the case & they should be ready to use, I have found that I’ve had to make quite a few trips back to the vendor to get the aids re-programmed slightly. This may be just bad luck but it is worth keep in mind that you might need to make extra trips back to the vendor to tweak your aids’ settings until you’re happy with them - this may be particularly important if your vendor is charging per visit!

Steve has been wearing hearing aids since the age of four. He has a keen interest in the issues & problems faced by the deaf & hard of hearing. He blogs about it now & again.

Read more articles like this at http://www.deafness-and-hearingaids.net.

Read more about digital hearing aids at www.deafness-and-hearingaids.net

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