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New Technology: Open Ear Hearing
At one time or another every young child has stubbornly covered his or her ears to muffle unwelcome speech, proclaiming to the speaker, “I can’t hear you!” Though immature, that act has a point – if your ears are blocked, sound can be difficult and sometimes even impossible to understand.
That common sense thought may have been in mind with the creation of open-fit hearing aids. These devices, also known as open ear, are tiny behind-the-ear (BTE) devices with a thin tube running to the ear canal, providing the wearer with minimal blockage and eliminating occlusion. Because the ear canal is more open, the wearer is able to hear much better than when a device fills the ear canal.
Open-fit hearing devices are not new. However, until the advances made in the last few years regarding the size of the tube, feedback suppression, and placing the receiver in the canal, the number of people who used these instruments were limited. Now, open-ear products are rising in popularity and BTE devices are dominating the market.
Information from the Hearing Industries Association Statistical Reports indicates that 63.4% of all hearing aids sold in the past year were the behind-the-ear (BTE) style with two-thirds representing the new open-fit design. These figures represent a triple increase in BTE purchases in the past ten years.
Reported advantages to the open fit hearing aid include: its small size and weight; improved comfort – the open ear hearing eliminates that “plugged up” feeling; more natural sound quality; better quality of sound of your own voice; and easy adjustment for the wearer.
The hearing industry is constantly evolving. Products no longer stay on the market for years. New technologies and advancements have created opportunities for more advanced and better quality products to be developed each year. If these open-ear devices, and the progress they have provided, are any indication of the products to come, hearing health care will see even more changes in the design, size, and comfort of its instruments.
If you’ve put off getting hearing aids because they look cumbersome on the ear, take a new look at the latest technology by contacting your local audiologist for a hearing aid consultation.
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