Understanding Different Listening Environments
The environments you live and hear in often changes throughout the day. The day can start off relatively quiet as you wake up. You can quickly find yourself in an environment that combines car background noise and conversations. Then the sound of your work from meeting rooms to your desk or workstation. Then at night perhaps you hear the sounds offered by a noisy restaurant or bar while out with friends. Each one of these environments offers a different challenge for those with hearing loss. New technologies can automatically adjust your hearing aid to adapt to these challenges throughout the day.
Listening to the TV or Talking on the Phone
Watching your favorite show or speaking on the phone shouldn’t be hindered by hearing loss. Today’s hearing aids and accessories offer solutions to help. When connecting to any electronic media, whether it’s the television, phone or radio, hearing aids usually do a great job of making the sound more clear and loud enough to hear. Hearing aids with the following features should be considered:
Telecoils: help on many landline phones and in public places, some theaters that have a loop system
Telephone program: some hearing aid manufacturers have a specific, automatic phone program that, when you pick up the phone it sends the call into both hearing aids giving you stereo sound
Bluetooth capabilities: there are also Bluetooth accessories available to enhance the connection from the hearing aids to cell phones, some landline phones as well as the television.
Conversations in Noisy Environments
Going to restaurants or get-togethers can be a lot of fun. Sometimes, background noise can be distracting. With the right kind of hearing aid, you can enter noisy places with confidence.
If you find yourself in situations where you are trying to follow a conversation when there is a lot of background noise, or multiple speakers there are some hearing aid features that you should consider. These include:
Directional microphones: the ability for the hearing aid microphones to focus on the speaker while ignoring other background noises and distracting information
Binaural wireless capabilities: the ability for the hearing aids to share information and data between the two ears to give us a full picture of our environment
Noise reduction: the ability of the hearing aids to ‘turn down’ noise and focus on speech
Listening to Music
Whether it’s listening to the radio, your favorite 8-track, or a live concert, seamlessly transitioning into a music setting is possible with today’s solutions.
Music is much different than speech. It compbines a wide array of frequencies blended together all at once. There is a different tempo, pitch and overall quality to music that needs special consideration when it comes to choosing a hearing instrument.
If listening to music is a priority for you, there are certain characteristics you should look for when searching for your hearing solution.
You should consider looking for a solution that includes:
Automatic Programming: the ability of the hearing aid to automatically adjust the sound settings when music is detected
Large bandwidth: the amount of sound that is collected by the hearing aid is an important factor when getting a full and rich sound as it relates to music
Attending Meetings or Presentations
An important part of any workday may include a one-on-one meeting or a meeting with several participants. It’s important to be ready and confident in your ability to perform and to hear.
If you are often in meetings, giving or listening to presentations then it is important to have a fast reacting hearing aid that is able to quickly pick up other speakers. Some features to consider include:
Directional microphones: the ability for the hearing aid microphones to focus on the speaker while ignoring other background noises and distracting information
Binaural wireless capabilities: the ability for the hearing aids to share information and data between the two ears to give us a full picture of our environment
Spending Time Outdoors
As the birds chirp and the wind blows, we want to be comfortable and care free while enjoying the outdoors.
If spending time outdoors is a priority than it is important to look at certain hearing aid features such as:
An IP68-rating: for moisture, sweat, dust, and dirt resistance. This helps ensure your hearing aids will stand up to your active lifestyle.
Wind noise cancellation or reduction: look for hearing aid models that have a program specifically designed to reduce wind noise associated with an active lifestyle. Many of today's advanced hearing aids include this feature.