Digital and Analogue
Styles of Instruments
Technology Pricing Guide

aihhp member

bshaa

phonak

ASP

 

Sign up to our mailing list

Hearing aids can be analogue or digital. They may be programmed via a computer or digital source which gives access to a range of parameters with much more precision of adjustment than has previously been available.

Analogue Technology
Analogue hearing aids may be single or dual frequency band which allows manipulation of the hearing aid’s response. Directional microphones enable the wearer to reduce the input of noise from behind. The volume of these instruments can be manually adjusted by a control located on the hearing aid.
Digital Signal Processing (DSP) Technology
In a digital aid the sound is converted to an electrical current by the microphone. An analogue/digital converter then turns the electrical signal into a series of binary numbers (computer language). The central processing unit of the hearing aid is a computer chip, just like you might find in your home PC or Laptop. It is instructed by the programming computer to manipulate the data in some predetermined manner to achieve the desired result for the wearer. Digital hearing aids have varying levels of sophistication.
Some of the features of digital hearing technology are:-
Numerous frequency bands, speech processing algorithms to enhance speech whilst suppressing background noise, multi-programmes allowing for manual or automatic selection of the most effective programme for a given listening situation, adaptive directional microphones - which allow the aids to 'focus and track' a speech signal and dynamic feedback management systems which have almost eliminated the embarassing whistling hearing aid.