Everyone will notice how much better you hear without noticing the hearing aids!

Hearing aids make life better for people suffering hearing loss—even very severe hearing loss. They amplify and clarify sounds even in noisy or cluttered sound environments like large gatherings, work or parties. Yet only one in five people who might benefit from hearing aids actually wears them, which is unfortunate because hearing aids:

• Improve interpersonal relationships because you can hear, listen and communicate better
• Open up opportunities at work because you can communicate more effectively if you can hear better
• Empower you to enjoy life and participate more actively in what’s going on around you

At the same time, not every hearing aid is built for every ear or every person. This is why it is important for our audiologists to run thorough hearing tests first so that we can figure out which set of hearing aids is right for you. We follow hearing tests with hearing aid fittings; during a fitting you try out wearing and hearing with different models while our audiologists use high-tech software and your experience to determine the hearing aids that will be the most comfortable and effective for your needs.

What Are Hearing Aids?

Hearing aids are tiny, light electronic devices that you can wear either in or behind one or both ears. One of our audiologists can help you select the right hearing aids for your needs, but generally speaking, they can boost the quality of your life by:

• Amplifying the speech of those around you
• Helping you hear better in either quiet or noisy sound environments
• Boosting your ability to listen and communicate

Hearing aids are made up of three essential components:

• Microphone
• Amplifier
• Speaker

The microphone gathers sound from your environment and converts the sounds into electrical signals, which are then funneled to the amplifier. The amplifier boosts those electrical signals and then pipes them through the speaker directly into your ear(s). Depending on your needs, these various components can be configured to handle the sound environments that you find yourself in most frequently.

How Do Hearing Aids Work?

So as you can see, hearing aids amplify the sound waves in your environment and increase the power of the vibrations as they enter your ear. This stimulates the remaining hair cells, enabling them to pick up on these bigger vibrations and change them into the neural signals sent to your brain that will process the sounds so that you can make sense of them. The more hair cells that are damaged, or the more severe the hearing loss is, the more the hearing aids will need to amplify the sounds coming through in order for you to hear.

There are incredible hearing aids available today that can improve the quality of hearing, and therefore, the quality of life, even for people with quite advanced hearing loss. Yet, there are still limits to what even the best hearing aids can do in cases where the inner ear and its hair cells have suffered too much damage. Luckily, in the vast majority of people with some level of hearing loss, enough hair cells do remain to make hearing aids a viable and very helpful alternative to the sounds of silence and confusion. This is why hearing tests and fittings are so important in finding you the right hearing healthcare solution so you can hear again.

Also keep in mind that one fitting may not be enough (it rarely is). It takes awhile to get used to wearing hearing aids and get them configured just right. If you need help, our audiologists can help you over the next several weeks as you become accustomed to how they work and how they feel so that you can have the most comfortable and effective set for your ears and your lifestyle.

Get Your Ears Back—Hear Better Today!

Don’t suffer in silence anymore. Contact us today for an appointment to meet with one of our highly-trained, experienced audiologists for hearing tests and hearing aid fittings. Here’s what you can do right now to tune back in to the sounds of your life:

• Call our toll-free number at 888-638-5095 to schedule an appointment with our audiologists at one of the six locations nearest you in the Columbus, OH area.

We look forward to hearing from you and to helping you find better hearing soon!