Hearing Zone

Did you know that more than 35 million children and adults in the United States have some degree of hearing loss? Fortunately, properly fitted hearing aids can resolve many hearing loss situations.

Behind-the-ear style hearing aids offer the comfort of an "open ear" with a slim tube fitting. For mild to moderate and high-frequency hearing losses, this style provides the necessary amplification for speech clarity without having any device fitted inside the ear canal.

You might need some time to adjust to the feeling of something in your ear when you get a hearing aid, but the good news is that a properly fitted hearing aid won't ever hurt. If you ever experience pain, or even just discomfort or irritation, let your hearing specialist know right away.

In order to ensure that your hearing aid continues to function properly, it’s critical that you keep both the batteries and connectors clean. Dust, oil, and other foreign materials can keep the battery from making a full connection and affect its performance.

Rather than just making things louder, digital hearing aids are able to isolate certain speech patterns for greater intelligibility. This improved sound discrimination lessens the likelihood of misheard conversation.

Digital hearing aids are the latest in hearing aid technology. Like analog types, digital aids can be programmed using a computer chip to account for ever-changing environments, but they do this digitally: in essence, producing sound by reproducing it as an exact replica.

Swimmers have been riddled for a while about how to get assistance hearing while swimming or diving. Now waterproof hearing aid technology has surfaced, so swimmers and scuba-divers have no need to worry about wear and tear on their device anymore.

Digital hearing aids (alongside other devices like laptops and cell phones) are getting smaller as digital processing power evolves exponentially. Today’s digital hearing aids are sleek, dime-size devices with great power.

Did you know you should never use your hearing aid in the shower or when you go swimming, unless you have special hearing aids that permit in-water usage? Water can significantly damage the inner workings of your hearing aid.

If your hearing aid whistles or squawks, the volume may be turned up too loudly. You may also want to check to make that there isn’t a wax buildup in your ears, and that you correctly inserted your hearing aid.

Did you know that approximately 17 percent of American adults -- that's about 36 million people -- report some degree of hearing loss? Genetics are thought to be responsible for one-half of all congenital hearing loss cases.

Hearing aids have come along way over the years and are constantly being improved. Did you know that the first digital hearing aid was introduced in 1996 by Widex?