Which Hearing Aid Technology is BEST for Me?

Some hearing aids are designed to perform better in complex environments than others. The technology that enables a hearing aid to sort through extraneous noise and enhance speech is what ultimately determines the cost difference between hearing aid technologies.

Simple (level 1) technology is best suited for:

Quiet home activities, one on one conversation and small group conversation in relatively calm or quiet environments. This is an excellent option for patients with limited social interaction when improvement in hearing is needed for even basic communication. Simple technology will offer improved hearing in all environments but there is little or no noise reduction to aid in separating speech from environmental noise interference.

Moderate (level 2) technology is best suited for:

Hearing in meetings, religious gatherings, quiet restaurants, small groups, one on one conversation and quiet home activities. This hearing aid technology is designed to meet the needs of the average person who is moderately active. If you are involved in occasional group activities such as conversing with friends over lunch, playing cards, participating in meetings, or find yourself struggling to hear in other group situations this may be a good fit for you. This level of technology has some degree of noise reduction, typically using directional microphones to improve the speech to noise ratio. Often, the need for a volume control is eliminated due to automatic adjustments by the hearing aid to changes in your environments. The range of price at this level is dependent on the amount of manual adjustment you choose.

Complex (level 3) technology is best suited for:

Dynamically changing environments such as sporting events, large or busy restaurants, shopping, busy public places, seminars and other complex listening environments. For the working or very active individual this level of hearing aid offers the most sophisticated sound processing technology available. These hearing aids can recognize changes in the environment and automatically adjust your hearing algorithm for optimal understanding. Higher levels of noise reduction are also available in Complex hearing aids for those patients that have sound tolerance issues or heightened sensitivity to noise.