A hearing aid is a small electronic device that is worn behind the ears and sometimes in the ear to help you improve hearing, speech understanding, communication and hence improving the quality of life. No matter what style or size, all hearing aids have the same basic parts and together these parts help you listen to sounds louder and clearer.
Basic components of hearing aids
- Microphone
This picks up the sounds from the surroundings and transforms them into electrical signals.
- Amplifier
It increases the overall power of the signals received from the mic. When you add specialized filters and equalizers, it modifies the sounds so that only the relevant sounds can be heard by the wearer amplified.
- Receiver
This can also be called a speaker. It transforms electrical signals from the mic into acoustic signals heard by the user.
- Battery
It serves as a power source for the hearing aids and they usually need special batteries that are available in a number of sizes. They usually last for 5 to 14 days. The life of the battery depends on the size, user needs, hearing device, complex nature of the listening environments, amount of usage and a lot more. Nowadays a lot of rechargeable hearing aids are available.
- Ear hook
This is a clear plastic attachment that is connected to the device and loops over the ear. It attaches the hearing aid to the tubing. This component can only be found on the BTE or Behind the Ear devices.
- Earmold
It is a custom in the ear piece that is attached to the hearing aid for containing the sound in the user’s ear. A custom earmold is made from the ear impression which is taken by the doctor at Audiologie Centre-Ouest. And let them determine if you really need an ear mold or not.
- Vent
This refers to a hole that goes all the way via a custom hearing aid or ear mold. It lets the airflow in and out of ear for preventing infection and the feeling of a plugged up ear.
- Wax guard
It is a small filter that catches the earwax that avoids getting mixed with the electronic parts of the hearing aid.
- Volume control
This lets the user to adjust the loudness of the sounds. This switch may not be available on every hearing aid and may not be suitable for all users. Nowadays many hearing aids come with volume control by a mobile app.