If you have a busy holiday season planned, you need your hearing aids to work for you. Beyond improving your ability to hear, smart hearing aids—also called digital hearing aids—come equipped with a multitude of features that can keep you connected to the world of sound better than ever before. Read on to find out how you could benefit from this incredible technology this holiday season.
How Are Smart Hearing Aids Different from Analog Hearing Aids?
Until quite recently, all hearing aids were analog. Analog hearing aids simply pick up sound waves and amplify them into your ear. Digital hearing aids, on the other hand, convert those sound waves into digital signals and then use a computer chip to process the sound automatically. This allows for much more customization of which sounds reach your ear and how you hear them.
Smart Hearing Aid Features and How You Can Use Them
Take advantage of these high-end features this holiday season.
Personalized Listening
Customize your hearing like never before. Smart hearing aids come with:
- Advanced noise reduction, which cuts down on background noise or any other sound you may want to deemphasize, decluttering your hearing and leading to fewer distractions.
- AI sound processing, which can classify and prioritize sounds in the moment, adapt to your listening environment automatically and identify specific sounds and people’s voices. The AI will constantly learn about your environment and hearing preferences until adjustment is automatic and seamless.
- Increased memory space for listening programs, meaning you can easily adjust your listening settings instead of fiddling with your hearing aid. As a bonus, you can usually change settings discreetly on your smartphone, rather than reaching up to your ear, but more on that below.
- Improved directionality, which can help you more easily identify where a sound is coming from and react appropriately, which is especially critical in noisy settings. Additionally, microphone directionality will focus the hearing aid on the sound you want to focus on, tuning you in faster and easier.
As you attend bustling holiday parties and navigate noisy shopping centers, these features will be invaluable for keeping you connected and alert to your surroundings. Never miss another anecdote at the dinner table with microphone directionality, and tune out the background noise at the mall—clacking carts, beeping scanners, squeaky shoes on the linoleum floor—with noise reduction.
Wireless Connection
Most smart hearing aids come with Bluetooth® technology installed by default. Bluetooth enables the wireless connection between two electronic devices, making it a valuable feature in hearing aids. Instead of attempting to wear headphones comfortably over your hearing aids, which can be difficult, or taking your hearing aids out to use headphones, which can limit your audio experience, stream the audio straight to your hearing aids by pairing your hearing aids to your devices. You can pair them with your smartphone, TV, tablet or other devices for easy streaming.
Once you’ve connected your phone to your hearing aids, make good use of your hearing aid app. Smart hearing aid apps enable you to adjust your listening settings, such as volume or listening program, on the spot with minimal effort. This app can connect you to your audiologist, no matter where you are, and provide guidance on basic troubleshooting for your specific hearing aids.
Bluetooth will prove vital for calling family for the holidays or settling in to watch your favorite holiday movie. You can even get map directions directly to your hearing aids to make driving to the party less of a hassle. Remote support from the app means you won’t have to scramble in an unfamiliar city looking for an audiologist should something go wrong.
And More
Smart hearing aids can also:
- Increase safety with location tracking and fall detection
- Charge faster for more convenient, uninterrupted listening
- Track health and fitness like other fitness devices on the market right now
- Look good with a sleek, modern and discreet design.
If you’re interested in any of these features, speak with your hearing health professional today about upgrading to smart hearing aids. Our expert team at Aaron's Hearing Aid & Audiology Center is happy to go through these incredible features with you.