Contents
- Top 10 rating according to KP
- Editor’s Choice
- 1. Siemens Digitrim 12ХР
- 2. ReSound Four EY367-DW
- 3. Oticon OPN 3 miniRITE
- What other hearing aids for adults are worth paying attention to?
- 4. Oticon Get BTE
- 5. East-Audio Sonata U-02 Mini
- 6. Rhythm “Aria-1TP”
- 7. Unitron 360+
- 8. Phonak Bolero Q50-M13
- 9. MOTION 500 IT+PBS+VC+TM
- 10. ReSound Four EY367-DW
- How to choose a hearing aid for an adult. Doctor’s advice
A sharp hearing loss is not only discomfort due to communication problems, but also a real danger. If you don’t hear the car’s horn while crossing the road, you’ll be in trouble. Therefore, for people who need a hearing aid, we offer an overview of the models on the market today.
A hearing aid is a small device that is designed to restore a person’s lost hearing. It helps to filter out unnecessary noise, while making it possible to hear sounds. The device itself is quite miniature, consists of three main parts:
- a sensor that reads incoming sound signals;
- an amplifier that increases the volume of sounds;
- a receiver that transmits a signal into the ear.
Without delving into complex physical terms, let’s explain the principle of operation of a hearing aid: those sound waves that surround a hearing-impaired person enter the device’s microphone area and are converted into electrical signals. This data is sent to an amplifier, which increases its volume, making the sounds clear and understandable. Further, these signals are transmitted to the receiver (in other words, the speaker), which reproduces the sounds inside the ear itself. The signal from it is much stronger than at the input to the microphone, which partially solves the problem of poor hearing in the patient.
Important! In everyday life, it is generally accepted that all devices that amplify sound are hearing aids. But this is not entirely true. There are sound amplifiers (the simplest, cheapest devices) and actually hearing aids. The first people often choose on their own, they do not require certification and have only a volume control. Hearing aids are certified medical devices that are selected together with the doctor.
Top 10 rating according to KP
Editor’s Choice
1. Siemens Digitrim 12ХР
Modern hearing aid with behind-the-ear fastening. It processes incoming signals of all frequencies using a digital microprocessor and has a fairly powerful level of output signal intensity.
Features
| Maximum device power | up to 138 dB |
| Maximum gain level | up to 78 dB |
| Показания | for severe and deep hearing loss (grade 3-4) |
| frequency range | from 170 to 4600 Hz |
| Setting | trimmer |
| Channels | one |
| Programs | two |
It has low power consumption, rationally regulates RAM. It can work on one battery up to 35 days or more. Equipped with a program switch button and volume control, which allows you to customize it for yourself for comfortable use in any situation. Also, the device is equipped with a telecoil, a built-in audio output and a screw-on horn.
2. ReSound Four EY367-DW
The line of the smallest hearing aids. These devices are suitable for people with mild to moderate hearing loss. They are placed inside the ear canal, they are comfortable to wear.
Features
| Maximum device power | up to 121 dB |
| Maximum gain level | up to 60 dB |
| Показания | for mild to moderate to severe hearing loss (grade 1-3) |
| Setting | programmable |
| Channels | 12 |
| Programs | three |
The device has a flexible tuning system for recognizing different types of acoustic waves with automatic mode switching. The noise reduction system and automatic change in sound gain gives the most natural sound. It has a large number of options, adapts individually to the owner.
3. Oticon OPN 3 miniRITE
The behind-the-ear comfort-class digital hearing aid is suitable for people with varying degrees of hearing loss, from moderate to severe. Thanks to its miniature size and ergonomic shape, it is easy to use and invisible to others. The model is equipped with a Velox microprocessor, which scans the sound environment more than 1 times in 100 second, recognizes sound sources and effectively “cleanses” speech from extraneous noise. Thanks to this, the wearer of the device feels comfortable in different environments: at home, on the street, in the office or in a restaurant where music is played.
Features:
| Degree of hearing compensation | from the 2nd to the 4th |
| Channels | 48 |
| Programs | 4 |
| functions | feedback suppression, suppression of background noise, including wind noise and harsh sounds |
What other hearing aids for adults are worth paying attention to?
4. Oticon Get BTE
Device made in Europe. Can compensate for any degree of hearing impairment, powered by rechargeable batteries that come with the kit. Helps to hear speech and low sounds well.
Features:
| Maximum amplification power | up to 126 dB |
| Maximum gain level | up to 60 dB |
| Показания | for mild to moderate hearing loss (grade 1-2) |
| Channels | four |
| Programs | four |
5. East-Audio Sonata U-02 Mini
The device of domestic production, related to the budget category. It has a miniature lightweight body and is indicated for the correction of moderate to severe hearing problems. Quite reliable and easy to use, functional. Equipped with the ability to pair with a phone and recognize sounds from it.
Features
| Maximum amplification power | up to 125 dB |
| Maximum gain level | up to 52 dB |
| Показания | for moderate, severe and very severe hearing loss (grade 2-4) |
| Setting | trimmer |
6. Rhythm “Aria-1TP”
The most popular of pocket hearing aids. It helps improve hearing even for people with severe hearing loss. The device settings are carried out individually for each patient by an audiologist on a computer using programs.
Features
| Maximum amplification power | up to 145 dB |
| Maximum gain level | up to 87 dB |
| Показания | for moderate, severe and very severe hearing loss (grade 2-4) |
| Channels | two |
| Programs | four |
| Setting | programmable |
7. Unitron 360+
Behind-the-ear hearing aids are suitable for people with moderate to severe hearing loss. The device is equipped with a smart microphone with speech enhancement, which recognizes the source of the sound and improves the intelligibility of voice and melody. The noise reduction option “neutralizes” background noises and harsh unpleasant sounds, including phone ringing, screaming, clanking dishes.
Features
| Degree of hearing compensation | from the 2nd to the 4th |
| Channels | 8 |
| Programs | 2 automatic and 3 manual |
| functions | speech extraction, feedback suppression, suppression of various types of noise – impulse, background, wind noise |
8. Phonak Bolero Q50-M13
Hearing aid with in-ear sound-transmitting department, located behind the ear. It is of high quality, assembled in the EU. It is based on unique technologies – the modernization of Audioset sounds, due to which the sound quality becomes very high without extraneous whistles and noises.
Features
| Maximum amplification power | up to 132 dB |
| Maximum gain level | up to 52 dB |
| Показания | for moderate to severe hearing loss (grade 2-3) |
| Channels | 12 |
| Programs | 2 |
9. MOTION 500 IT+PBS+VC+TM
Premium in-the-ear hearing aid model. It is suitable for the elderly and those leading an active lifestyle. Produced by Sivantos (a division of Siemens). It is used for hearing loss of the first and second degree.
Features
| Показания | for mild to moderate hearing loss (grade 1-2) |
| Channels | 12 |
| Programs | 5 |
10. ReSound Four EY367-DW
The behind-the-ear telecoil unit is equipped with a microphone with adaptive directivity for better sound recognition. The device has several noise reduction systems. The tinnitus generator reduces your own tinnitus. Windguard reduces wind noise, while NoiseTracker II masks background noise for clearer speech and music. You can switch programs and control the volume level using the remote control and the application on your smartphone.
Features
| Degree of hearing compensation | from the 1nd to the 3th |
| Channels | 8 |
| Programs | 4 built-in |
| functions | noise reduction, feedback suppression, wireless connection |
How to choose a hearing aid for an adult. Doctor’s advice
We discussed with audiologist Anna Khugayeva the choice of hearing aids, possible contraindications to their use.
Hearing aid types
According to the principles of operation, hearing aids are divided into analog и digital. Until the early 1970s, hearing aids used linear amplification, that is, the amplification of the sound was the same for both soft and loud sounds. A digital apparatus is a microcomputer in which digital signal processing allows signal processing to be carried out easily and flexibly. The sound is divided into several frequency channels, in each of which it is possible to use an independent individual amplification and further processing.
The following three types of hearing aids are most commonly used today:
- behind the ear,
- intra-ear
- intracanal.
l For fastening, options are possible:
- handheld devices – a wired earpiece is inserted into the ear, and the unit is worn in a pocket.
- intra-ear models are invisible, miniature, inserted into the vestibule of the ear canal. Due to this, they are not suitable for everyone.
- behind-the-ear models are attached behind the ear of a hard of hearing person, connected by a tube and an insert to the ear canal.
- intracanal are placed inside the ear canal itself, giving a good sound. but they are capricious in care and are not suitable for everyone.
Pocket hearing aids, which appeared in the 1950s, devices in which a hearing aid was placed in a box (it could be carried in a pocket or hung around the neck), a signal was transmitted through a special wire to a receiver (telephone, emitter) attached to a custom-made earpiece.
As hearing aid technology has advanced, the size of hearing aid components has decreased. By the mid-1960s, it became possible to place circuits inside hearing aids—behind-the-ear hearing aids appeared, consisting of a plastic housing that contained the hearing aid’s electronics, from which the amplified sound was delivered to the earmould.
Towards the end of the 1970s, they began to use in-the-ear hearing aids, which are placed inside the ear and consist of only one part (body), in which the electronics of the hearing aid are integrated. The housing is made according to an individual cast of the external auditory canal of each patient. The in-ear hearing aid sits deep in the ear canal and, despite its tiny size, is in no way inferior in quality to larger models.
Popular questions and answers
Which device is suitable for this or that degree of hearing loss?
Although, with the development of technology, this becomes a less significant criterion. So modern in-ear hearing aids can compensate for hearing loss from the minimum – 1-2 degrees to the corresponding level of 3-4 degrees of hearing loss (a person hears whispered speech at the auricle).