- Automatic hearing aids adjust volume, microphones, and noise reduction without manual input.
- Advanced internal features help improve speech clarity, comfort, and safety in changing environments.
- An audiologist can customize which automatic features work best for your lifestyle and preferences.
Hearing aids have come a long way in terms of technology. We can all remember the big, clunky hearing aids that our grandfathers wore that made terrible screeching sounds and had limited control capabilities. Hearing aids today are revolutionary in comparison to those. They now come in many styles, sizes, and colors to fit your overall look, and with the option of manual controls and Bluetooth connectivity.
Because of these advancements, hearing aid technology may feel overwhelming and difficult to manage. This is not the case, though. Current automatic hearing aids that can be purchased through a hearing healthcare professional like an audiologist are made to be hands-off—meaning they have automatic features to help in various listening situations. The goal is that you can put your hearing aids in and forget about them until you get ready for bed at night.
What Makes Hearing Aids Automatic?
Hearing aids that you purchase through an audiologist are Class 2 Prescriptive devices, meaning they can treat hearing loss, tinnitus, and sound sensitivity. These devices are powered by internal computer chips that are complex, making the hearing aids automatic.
What does this mean? This means that the hearing aids have the capability to fully function themselves, after proper programming by an audiologist, and will adapt how they function depending on the listening environment you find yourself in. If you are in a quiet room, they will pick up sounds from all directions.
If you move into a noisy restaurant, the microphones will focus only on sounds in front of you and help reduce any background noise. When you are outside around traffic and cars, the hearing aids will reduce the volume, as it can become very loud.
All these changes happen without the push of a button or you needing to tell the hearing aid, because they are automatic.
Key Automatic Features in Hearing Aids
Automatic Volume Controls
When hearing aids are programmed, they are programmed for different volume levels. Soft sounds like whispering, clothes rustling, or your car’s turn signal are given more volume in order to make them more audible. Normal conversation and speech are treated as most important, and the focus is on gaining clarity and understanding. Loud sounds like cars honking, emergency sirens, and doors slamming are given less emphasis.
Since the hearing aids are programmed to categorize sounds into soft, average, or loud input levels, they can recognize sounds around you and determine the amount of volume needed for each sound. This allows the hearing aids to automatically increase or decrease volume.
Directional Microphones
A normal set of hearing ears has 360-degree hearing. When you have hearing loss, you lose this ability. Directional microphones help increase speech understanding in background noise.
Hearing aids in quiet will act like normal hearing ears, meaning their microphones are omnidirectional. Hearing aids in noise will determine the source of the noise and speech and adjust to directional microphones to provide the best access to whoever is talking.
For example, if you are at a restaurant with family and there is significant kitchen noise behind you, your hearing aids will recognize that all input behind you is noise and switch to directional microphones. The microphones will focus on sounds in front of you, allowing you to hear your family members better.
Noise Reduction Circuitry
Aside from directional microphones, noise reduction circuits help improve understanding in background noise. Background noise is often steady and broadband, while speech changes in pitch and energy.
Automatic hearing aids can separate noise from speech and reduce the amplification applied to noise. This allows you to walk into restaurants, bars, and sporting events without feeling overwhelmed.
Automatic Phone Programs
Hearing on your home or cell phone is important and often a challenge for individuals with hearing loss. Current hearing aid technology recognizes when a phone is held near the ear and automatically activates phone enhancements.
These enhancements improve speech clarity and reduce static. If compatible, hearing aids can also connect via Bluetooth, allowing phone calls to stream directly into the devices for hands-free calling.
Music Recognition Circuits
Processing music and processing speech are very different tasks. Automatic hearing aids now include circuits that recognize music and limit sound distortion. These circuits allow music to come through more naturally by increasing the maximum input the hearing aid will process.
Feedback Cancellation Circuits
Automatic hearing aids include feedback cancellation circuits to eliminate the high-pitched screeching associated with older devices. These circuits detect and stop feedback automatically after calibration by the audiologist.
Impact-Noise Sensors
Impact noises like gunshots or car crashes can cause immediate damage. Automatic hearing aids include sensors that cut out these sounds completely to prevent pain or further hearing damage.
Wind-Noise Sensors
Automatic hearing aids can identify wind noise and block it from being amplified. This feature is especially helpful for people who spend time outdoors.
Are Automatic Features Right for Everyone?
These automatic features can be extremely helpful, but they are not ideal for everyone. Some users prefer manual control and would rather activate programs themselves.
For children, automatic features are often disabled. Pediatric hearing aids are programmed to provide constant access to all sounds to support incidental learning, which is how children naturally learn from their environment.
Customizing Automatic Hearing Aids With an Audiologist
Although all of this information about automatic features may seem intimidating, they were created to make hearing aids easier to use. The good thing about Class 2 Prescriptive hearing aids is that these features can be turned on or off by your audiologist.
This allows you to determine what works best for you and your lifestyle, and which automatic hearing aid features you do or do not benefit from.
If you have questions or want to adjust how your hearing aids respond, your audiologist can help fine-tune the technology to match your needs.
