Choosing the Right Hearing Aid Style for Your Needs

Author: rebeccakavel | Posted: 11.02.2012

Due to accidents or congenital defects, some people suffer from minor to major hearing problems and thus require devices like hearing aids to function normally in their daily lives. While all hearing aids contain the essential parts to carry sound from your environment to your ear, these differ in styles, size, and how they are placed in your ear. To understand your options, here are the common hearing aid styles available today.

Completely-in-the-canal

This hearing aid style is the least noticeable variety as it is molded to fit inside your ear canal. Since the ear protects the instrument, completely-in-the-canal hearing aids are less likely to pick up wind noise. It utilizes smaller batteries, does not have extra volume control or directional microphone features, and can improve mild to moderate hearing loss in adults.

In-the-canal

Unlike completely-in-the-canal hearing aids, the in-the-canal variety is partially fitted inside the ear canal. Compared with other styles, however, is it not as noticeable or visible in the ear. Though it may not fit well in smaller ears, it can allow adults with mild to moderate hearing loss to hear fairly well.

Half-shell

Bigger than the in-the-canal variety, half-shell hearing aids are custom-molded to fill the lower area of the outer ear's bowl-shaped portion. Users can easily handle or manage these as they can fit most ears. Unlike the previous styles, this variety includes additional features like directional microphones and volume control. Half-shell hearing aids are recommended for individuals with mild to moderately severe hearing loss.

In-the-ear (Full Shell)

This custom-made style fills most of an individual's outer ear's bowl-shaped area and is best for people with mild to severe hearing loss. It may pick up wind noise and are generally more visible compared with other hearing aid styles. Hearing aid repair experts can easily detect damage in this device's components because of its larger size.

Behind-the-ear

As the name suggests, behind-the-ear hearing aids are hooked over the top of your ear to rest behind it. Unlike the completely-in-the-canal style, this device picks up sound, amplifies it, and carries it to an ear mold inside your ear canal. Since it is the largest and most visible style, it can better amplify sounds than other varieties. If a component gets damaged, this requires minimal Hearing aid repair services as it only contains several essential parts. This type is recommended for most types of hearing loss for people from all age ranges.

Open Fit

This hearing aid style leaves the ear canal open and is thus recommended for mild to moderate high-frequency losses for most people. Since it uses very small batteries and often lacks manual adjustments, Hearing aid repair experts use sophisticated equipment to fix any damage.

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