Tuesday, September 13, 2016

How Hearing Aids Are Evaluated

By Brenda Murphy


Another name for a hearing aid is a deaf aid. This is a gadget designed for use by deaf people to improve the ability to hear. In most countries, these devices are categorized as mechanical devices subject to regulation. A lot of evolution has occurred in hearing aids from being simple sound amplification devices that directed external sounds to ear canals to being computerized electroacoustic systems.

Modern devices make sounds more comfortable and intelligible because they are computerized electroacoustic systems. They have sound processing abilities that allow them to cancel noise and wind, highlight voice, highlight spatial region, and shift frequencies. Configuration needs to be done to the gadget so as to match with the extent of loss of the ability to hear, physical features, and lifestyle of the user.

The devices need to be configured to match various aspects. The configuration is referred to as fitting and it is done by an audiologist. The quality of fitting done in the gadget often determines how beneficial the user finds it to be. It is vital to understand that deafness cannot be truly rectified by a deaf aid. The most the devices does it to increase accessibility to sound.

The level of efficiency of these gadgets in undermined by two key factors. The first factor is related to loss of cells of the brain responsible for sound processing. The loss of these cells is triggered by prolonged absence of stimulation to primary auditory cortex. As the degree of deafness rises in an individual so does the loss in these brain cells. Factor number two is related to the damage of hair cells in inner ear due to sensorineural hearing loss. The patient becomes incapable of discriminating sounds as the hair cells are continuously lost.

Evaluation of how effective a gadget is in compensating for hearing loss is done using various methods. Among the evaluation methods currently in use is audiometry. This evaluation is undertaken under laboratory conditions to measure the level of hearing in a person. The method tries to mimic the conditions in a real world to the highest degree. However, regardless of the mimicry, patient experience is still very different.

The outcome of a gadget can be represented using three major dimensions. These dimensions include aided speech recognition, satisfaction, and hearing aid usage. Real ear measurement is one of the techniques used for measuring the correctness of adjustments a gadget makes in hearing. Silicone probe tube microphones are utilized in this technique to assess amplification characteristics device performs near the eardrum.

Different types of these instruments have been invented. The devices vary in their size, circuitry, and power among other factors. Major modern types today include body worn aid, receiver in the canal aid, BTE cross system, behind the ear aid, and on-the-ear aid. Other types are BTE Bi cross system, extended wear deaf aid, earmolds, open-fit gadgets, disosable deaf aid, invisible in canal deaf aid, stethoscope deaf aids, and bone anchored devices.

Button cell zinc-air batteries are the most commonly used battering in modern devices. There are five major standards of these batteries. Mercury batteries were common in older models of the device. Other manufacturers of modern devices also use long-life disposable or rechargeable batteries.




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