Ear exam

Hearing Aids

Hearing aids are small electronic devices that make some sounds louder so that a person with hearing loss can listen, communicate, and participate more fully in daily activities.

A hearing aid can help people hear more in both quiet and noisy situations. Hearing aids are primarily useful in improving the hearing and speech comprehension of people who have hearing loss that results from damage to the small sensory cells in the inner ear, called hair cells. This type of hearing loss is called sensorineural hearing loss. The damage can occur as a result of disease, aging, or injury from noise or certain medicines.

A hearing aid magnifies sound vibrations entering the ear. Surviving hair cells detect the larger vibrations and convert them into neural signals that are passed along to the brain. The greater the damage to a person’s hair cells, the more severe the hearing loss, and the greater the hearing aid amplification needed to make up the difference. However, there are practical limits to the amount of amplification a hearing aid can provide. In addition, if the inner ear is too damaged, even large vibrations will not be converted into neural signals. In this situation, a hearing aid would be ineffective. (Source: nidcd.nih.gov)

Various kinds of hearing aids are available and our specialists can recommend which type may be suitable.

More information about hearing aids

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Last updated: April 6, 2020